


Let Me See The Best In You

by Luciel89



Series: Let Me See The Best In You 'Verse [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anal Sex, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Torture, Implied Underage, M/M, Oil glands, Oral Sex, Rape/Non-con References, Slavery, Wing Kink, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-28
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-27 07:05:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 39,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/659233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luciel89/pseuds/Luciel89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where the supernatural is known, Dean has recently lost his long-time friend and hunting partner. When he returns to work 3 months later, he finds out that his new partner is an angel – Castiel, who has a mysterious past. Neither is impressed to be partners, and they hate each other’s guts. Or do they…?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my last old, multi-chaptered story. Hope you enjoy :)
> 
> References to past rape and underage rape, but no actual rape in this story. There are references to slavery and past slavery.

The sudden sound of the alarm clock going off, and the echoing through his bedroom irritating his ears, was enough to wake Dean up. His right hand fumbled across the night stand until it found the source of the noise and turned it off.  
  
Dean groaned, sleepily, and rolled onto his back. The alarm clock just ruined a dream that might have been about two brunettes and a piece of pie… But Dean can’t really be sure.  
  
“Dean, get up already. It’s your first day at work for three months – you can’t be late!” Sam yelled from the kitchen.  
  
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Dean yelled back; voice hoarse from sleep. He bit back a curse and sat up on the bed, rubbing sleep from his eyes.  
  
It had been three months since he was severely injured during a hunt. He and his partner, Jim, had been sent to track down a pack of werewolves in a forest outside of town. Everything had gone as planned, until one of the werewolves had found their hide-out and attacked them; catching them off-guard and alerting the other wolves. Jim was killed, and Dean barely made it out alive before back-up finally arrived.  
  
He had been off work for three months now to recover, and today was the day he would go back to work. He didn’t really want to go. He knew his friend wouldn’t be there when he came back.  
  
Dean finally got up and moved into the kitchen where Sam had already placed cereals and milk on the table for him.  
  
Sam had moved in with him after the incident. He studied Law at the university, and apartments were difficult to find, so Dean was more than happy to take him in for a while. He had needed his help while he was injured anyway.  
  
Dean sat down by the table with a sigh. “Seriously, you’re not my mom, Sammy.”  
  
“Well, I’m just helping you out here a bit. It’s your first day at work for a while and you shouldn’t be late,” Sam argued and sat down beside him. “Now eat already, you only have 15 minutes before you gotta go.”  
  
Dean finished his breakfast in a hurry and went off to shower. Then he dressed himself quickly and headed for the door.  
  
“Okay, I’m going, I’ll see ya later, Sam.”  
  
“Sure. Good luck.”

 

***

  
Dean was working at the local Hunting Police Department. They were the ones who hunted down all kinds of supernatural creatures which posed a threat to humankind.  
  
The creatures had been known by humans for centuries, and even though humans had always fought them, they just kept coming. Actually, humans even used to breed them, as it was once a sign of status if you had a supernatural creature as your slave or pet. But the creatures had gotten out of control, their numbers had increased, and they were becoming more aggressive and less afraid of humans. Now it was banned to have them – especially angels. They were the most intelligent and powerful of all supernatural beings, and humanity had recently started working together with them to fight the threatening creatures. Though, both species still had a hard time accepting the other.  
  
The moment Dean entered the office department he was greeted by his colleagues who were happy to see him back. He had sort of dreaded this moment. He felt shame at being the only one coming back alive.  
  
“Hey, Winchester!” said Allan, his colleague, and threw an arm around his shoulder. “It’s good to see you back! I was just starting to think you preferred your bed and pillow over us,” he grinned.  
  
“I certainly prefer them over you, Allan,” Dean replied with grin.  
  
“Aw, you hurt my feelings.”  
  
“Dean!”  
  
Dean turned around and was met by Jo whose arms went around him and pulled him into a tight hug that almost cut off his air supply.  
  
“Urgh, Jo, I’m choking here,” Dean muttered against her shirt.  
  
She released him and stared back at him with an almost angry expression. “Why didn’t call me?! You have no idea how concerned I was about how you were doing, and you never picked up your damn phone when I called you!” She hit him on the shoulder, making Dean wince.  
  
“Ow, Jo… Jesus. I’m sorry okay?”  
  
“You’re forgiven,” said Jo with a grin and turned around to walk back to her desk.  
  
Dean stared at her with a frown. _Silly women_ , he thought and shook his head.  
  
While his other colleagues gathered around him to welcome him back, the door to the department opened and in walked their superior.  
  
Everyone quickly went back to their tasks, but soon, people starting whispering and gasping as the boss walked over to Dean.  
  
Dean frowned in confusion at their behavior, until he noticed that his boss was not alone.  
  
Behind him walked a figure dressed in a suit and a tan trench coat; covering the guy’s slender frame. He walked stiffly, and stared around at the people who were staring right back at him. He looked very uncomfortable and out of place.  
  
“Dude, the boss brought an angel with him,” he heard Allan whisper next to him.  
  
Only then did Dean notice the huge, white wings behind the strange guy’s back. They were drawn in close to his body, as if trying to hide them, and Dean had nearly missed them.  
  
Dean had seen angels before, but never up close. He had never actually met one, let alone _talked_ to one. They mostly tended to avoid humans at all costs and were often hostile against them, given how cruel humans had treated them throughout history.  
  
The angel seemed to sense his gaze and stared back at him as he approached. Dean’s breath almost got caught in his throat. The angel’s eyes were so fucking _blue_ , he had never seen anything like them before. Something in the angel’s eyes changed and became darker, and now he was almost _glaring_ at Dean. He wondered what he had done to piss the angel off.  
  
Dean snapped out of his thoughts as his boss stopped right in front of him, and he tore his gaze from the angel back to his boss.  
  
“Dean, it is good to have you back,” his boss smiled, and patted him on the shoulder.  
  
“Thanks, it’s good to be back,” Dean answered, feeling a little awkward. The angel was no longer glaring at him, and was now staring around the office with a grim expression.  
  
Dean’s co-workers were finally going back to their own business, but he still felt their gazes on him, and it made him uneasy. He knew his boss was planning something. Probably something involving that angel behind him.  
  
“Well, good to know,” the boss said, before switching topics. “Dean, I want you to continue your work as you have always done it; finding the damn creatures, kill or capture them, but after what happened with Jim… I was thinking you need a new partner for this job, as it can’t be done alone. The creatures are killing more and more of our men, so we have made an alliance with the angels so they can help us restore order in this world, as we do not have the power to do it alone.”  
  
He stepped aside, revealing the angel behind him, whose gaze met Dean’s again. It sent shivers up Dean’s spine as the piercing blue eyes met his, and he suppressed a shudder.  
  
“This is Castiel, he is an angel solider, and he will be your new partner,” his boss said; his words pulling Dean back to reality.  
  
“What? My _partner?_ ” Dean exclaimed, shocked.  
  
He heard his co-workers gasp, but quickly minding their own business again as their boss glanced at them.  
  
His boss wanted him to partner up with an angel in order to do his job?  
  
He glanced at the angel who seemed just as upset about this new partnership as he was; judging from the way his eyes narrowed and how he tensed up beside the superior human.  
  
“Well, a few of the hunters in the C and D departments have already been partnered up with angels while you were absent, so it’s not an entirely new thing here… And their hunts actually went much better after that, so no complaints about that,” his boss told him with a shrug.  
  
“You two will be together on any major hunt from now on, and will be working on tracking down creatures in the city or near it. Today, however, I want you two to get to know each other and get settled. Dean, you pick up phone calls and see if there are any useful calls about creatures, and maybe sort out some of the folders in your office. I want you to take it easy today. Tomorrow the two of you can work on a case.”  
  
And with that the boss turned left the office; leaving Dean alone with his new angel partner, who had still not moved one bit.  
  
Dean glanced around at his co-workers, and he saw Jo who simply gave him a thump-up for encouragement, before going back to work.  
  
He glanced back at the angel, whose arms were twitching at his sides.  
  
Seemed like the guy was a rather tense one, Dean thought to himself.  
  
“So, uh, I’m Dean,” he said, lamely, and rubbed his neck in a nervous gesture.  
  
“Yes, I am aware,” answered the angel. His voice was gruff and his tone sounded rather irritated, which made Dean wince a little.  
  
What a nice first meeting.  
  
“Right,” said Dean. “Um, anyway, since we’re gonna be partners… we’re gonna share the same office, so let me take you to my office to get familiar with it.”  
  
The angel simply nodded, stiffly, and Dean took a deep breath before he led him past the cubicles where the phone people worked, and into his office at the back of the room. The active hunters each had their own office with their own files and information in it.  
  
Dean entered the office, which was big enough for two people, and felt Castiel follow behind him. The angel hesitated slightly before he entered the office and looked around curiously.  
  
It felt weird not to have Jim in the office anymore and some strange angel instead. Dean bit his lip as Castiel’s gaze fell on the mostly empty desk that once belonged to his deceased partner and friend.  
  
“Anyway, there are books and files on the shelves about any supernatural creature if you need information, and there is also a logbook of every hunt I’ve been on so far… for reference. But I’m not sure how much you need any of that,” Dean said.  
  
The angel didn’t reply and continued to look around the office; his eyes then falling to a picture on Jim’s desk. It was a picture of Jim with his wife, Allison. Dean bit back a feeling of anger, as the angel studied his old friend’s personal stuff.  
  
He took his gaze elsewhere and it accidentally fell to the angel’s wings, which were still pressed against his back. He knew angels were very protective of their wings, and didn’t like it when someone stared at them, but Dean couldn’t help himself. They were beautiful – and huge; probably a little over 5 meters in wingspan when spread out, and their tips almost touched the ground as they hung behind the angel’s back.  
  
The feathers looked soft. He had once heard that an angel’s wings were the softest thing to touch… Dean wondered if that was really true.  
  
He switched his gaze from the wings back to the angel’s face, who had just turned his head around and caught him staring. Dean felt a shiver of fear travel up his spine.  
  
“Do not stare at my wings,” Castiel growled, and Dean could have sworn he had seen a glimpse of almost fear in the angel’s eyes for a moment.  
  
“Sorry, it wasn’t on purpose,” Dean muttered, feeling a little ashamed. “So, err, why are you even in this department anyway? Orders?” He asked, casually.  
  
“I don’t see how that’s any of your concern,” Castiel replied, coldly. “But I certainly didn’t _ask_ to come here, if that’s what you think,” he added, almost snapping.  
  
Dean was taken a little aback by that before he hardened and glared at the angel. “You think _I_ asked for a new partner? An _angel_ at that?” He snapped.  
  
He was trying everything to be nice to this angel, who had suddenly been announced as his new partner, and whom Dean hadn’t even asked for, and all the angel did was to treat him coldly and with disinterest – and now he was _snapping_ at him?  
  
It was starting to piss Dean off.  
  
“Let’s rather focus on our task instead of talking,” the angel growled.  
  
“Fine, you’re no fun talking with anyway,” Dean snapped at him before he gathered a few folders from the shelf and left.  
  
He found a spot in an empty office. The owners were out on a hunt so Dean could use it temporarily. He just wanted to get away from the angel. A few of his co-workers found him and asked him questions, but Dean was not really feeling like talking to them about it right now. Jo had nagged him for ages until he told her that his new angelic partner was nothing but a dick. She seemed a little disappointed by that. Dean wondered what she had expected from the angel anyway.  
  
He had never missed Jim as much as he did right now.  
  
A few hours later when Dean was done sorting the documents in the folders and taking care of some phone calls, he returned to his office. He saw through the small window in the door that the angel was still there. He bit back a curse before he entered the room.  
  
Castiel barely looked up as he entered. Not that Dean cared anyway.  
  
He noticed, however, that the angel had cleaned the room and tidied up Jim’s old desk. The rest of his old stuff he had put in the box in the corner, which contained most of Jim’s old things. Now, the angel was apparently looking through the logbook which contained all the information about hunts that Dean had been on in the years he had worked for the department.  
  
Dean swallowed down a comment, which was only going to start another fight anyway, and went over to the shelf to place the folders back where they belonged.  
  
“I’m gonna go home soon. Nothing to do here when there is no case,” Dean muttered, mostly to himself.  
  
Castiel remained silent. Not that it surprised Dean much. He sighed and sat down by his desk; rubbing his hands over his face.  
  
“Was your partner killed by werewolves?” Castiel suddenly asked, softly.  
  
Dean froze. He had not expected the angel to talk, much less ask him that. He looked over and saw that Castiel was looking at the last file in the logbook.  
  
The werewolf-case.  
  
“Yeah,” Dean replied after a moment of silence. “I barely made it out myself.”  
  
The angel seemed to digest that information for a while, before he stood. He walked over to Dean and handed him back the logbook. Dean accepted it, and stared up at Castiel in bewilderment.  
  
“I’m sorry for your loss,” the angel said before he turned around and left the office.  
  
Dean stared at the door before he left the office and went home too.

 

***

Sam wasn’t there when Dean came home. But as soon as he came home in the evening, he asked Dean about his day. He was rather surprised – and excited – when Dean told him about his new partner.  
  
“Seriously? They gave you an angel as a partner? Dude, that is so awesome, angels are cool, man,” Sam exclaimed, seemingly very enthusiastic about it.  
  
“Not really, this one’s a dick,” Dean muttered and took a swig of his beer.  
  
“Everyone’s a dick to you,” Sam grimaced. “I’m sure you’re just misunderstanding him.”  
  
“’Misunderstanding him’? Dude, the guy doesn’t even talk; he just coldly ignores me. And when he _does_ talk, he snaps at me and gets upset over everything I say.”  
  
“Well, you gotta see it from his perspective… He is the only angel in a hunter’s department full of humans, and I am sure he hasn’t met many humans before. I bet he’s just scared out of his mind,” Sam argued.  
  
Dean snorted. “No reason for him to treat me like dirt.”  
  
“Dean, c’mon….” Sam sighed.  
  
Dean wondered how he was going to survive tomorrow and the rest of his career with the angel if the guy kept being such a cold, stubborn son of a bitch. Suddenly the loss of Jim it him even harder, and he’d give anything to get his old partner back instead of the angel. Heck, he’d prefer anyone over him.  
  
If only the angel would treat him nicer, then it maybe wouldn’t be so hard to accept him.

 

***

  
Castiel returned to his apartment in the afternoon. He took off his coat, shoes and suit jacket and threw himself on the couch.  
  
The apartment was rather small, but it was good enough for him. It’s hard to get a decent apartment if you’re an angel, and his brother, Gabriel, had helped him finding this one. He was very grateful for that.  
  
Castiel sighed and thought about his day.  
  
He had not asked to be transferred to the human Hunter’s Department. He had begged not to be; begged to be kept away from any contact with humans. But Zachariah had insisted that Castiel was ‘best suited’ for the job – probably because he didn’t like him and just wanted him out of his face.  
  
Castiel hated humans.  
  
He feared them.  
  
He had sworn to himself he would never get anywhere near one again, and now he was going to be surrounded by them all day long. He did everything he could to distance himself from those… _creatures._ The last thing he needed was for one of them to be glued to him all day long.  
  
Humans were mean and selfish creatures; that much Castiel knew. It was better not to get too close. It made him more comfortable, made him feel safer.  
  
And yet, he couldn’t help but feel bad about how he had treated Dean; his ‘partner’ seemed nice. For a human, at least.  
  
But Castiel would never let Dean get too close to him. He would never give Dean the opportunity to hurt him.  
  
Never.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, Dean met at work at 9am, as usual. He didn’t miss the looks his colleagues sent him as he walked past the cubicles towards his office, where he expected the angel to be already.  
  
Yesterday had been a disaster, so he hoped today would be better with the angel. Though, he seriously doubted it.  
  
“Dean!” Allan called, making Dean stop and turn towards him as the man walked over to him. “Hey man, first day on a hunt with feather-ass?”  
  
Dean frowned at him. “Don’t call him that, dude.”  
  
“What, you defending him now?” Allan asked, almost surprised.  
  
“No, I’m just saying you shouldn’t make a comment like that about people.”  
  
“He’s not people,” Allan said, staring at Dean like he was crazy.  
  
That comment made something inside Dean twitch, and he felt anger. He didn’t know why.  
  
“Winchester!”  
  
Dean turned to see one of his superiors approach him.  
  
“I want you and Castiel to investigate some vampires which have been roaming downtown for the past couple of nights,” the guy said, handing Dean some papers regarding the case. “The vamps are making it a living hell there at night, so I suggest you guys find out more about the case first, and then go to the clubs tonight to find those sons of bitches.”  
  
“Alright, sir,” Dean said, staring at the files he was handed. There were photos of some of the people who got killed last night, and some details about how and where.  
  
He walked into the office where Castiel was standing by the window; staring into the streets below. The angel turned his head slightly when Dean entered. Dean somehow felt relief that the angel at least acknowledged his presence a little more today.  
  
“So, we got a case,” Dean said and sat down by his desk. He felt the angel moving closer to take a look at the papers. “Vampires; making nightlife a living hell downtown.”   
  
When the angel didn’t comment he continued. “We’ll find out more about them today – information on all their victims, where they were sighted, what happened and so on. Then tonight when the clubs open we’ll go look for ‘em.”  
  
They started working; each investigating on their own. The only communication they had was about who investigated what. It was actually a little sad, but Dean had given up trying to come through to the angel.  
  
Around noon, Jo showed up in the office.  
  
“Hey boys, anyone hungry?” she asked as soon as she opened the door. Dean jumped in surprise, but Castiel remained perfectly still, only glancing up at her before going back to work.  
  
“Jesus, Jo. You scared the shit outta me,” Dean groaned and turned off his computer screen to give his eyes some rest.  
  
“I know, that’s why I’m doing it,” Jo giggled. She handed Dean a bag containing donuts from the local bakery. “Here, I bought you this, thought you might need it.”  
  
“Ohh, thanks Jo, but… We’re not really that kind of police,” Dean joked.  
  
“Very funny,” Jo said, rolling her eyes. She looked over at Castiel who was still working. Her eyes rested on the white wings for a while before she looked back at the angel’s face. “Hey, you, angel… errr,” she looked back at Dean and whispered, “what’s his name?”  
  
“Castiel,” Dean whispered back with an amused smile.  
  
“Right,” Jo said, turning back to the angel. “Castiel. You can have some too, if you want.”  
  
Castiel finally glanced up, looking between Jo and the bag Dean was now holding. “No thank you,” he said, turning back to his papers.  
  
“Hmm, not a big talker, are you?” Jo said; her hands on her hips as she studied the angel for a moment.   
  
Castiel bit his lip; a gesture Dean wasn’t quite sure what meant.  
  
Jo remained silent for a moment, still studying the angel, before she clasped her hands together; almost making Dean jump again.  
  
“Alright then! I’ll see you guys later,” she said and disappeared out the door before Dean could even open his mouth.  
  
Dean sighed and started taking the donuts out of the bag.   
  
“Dude, you really need to talk more,” he muttered.  
  
Castiel tensed even more, but didn’t say anything. Dean sighed again and started eating.  
  


***

  
They worked on the case until the midafternoon, when they were done researching. They would meet up again later and go to town to find the vampires.  
  
They didn’t exchange many words, but Dean saw it as a progress that they at least hadn’t gotten into another fight. Well, they almost had at some point, but that doesn’t count.  
  
When night came, they met up in an alley near the club where the vampires had most activity. Dean would have preferred them to be in a car rather than out in the open, but he realized that with those massive wings of Castiel’s that was not an option. He doubted the angel could sit down anywhere where he couldn’t let his wings fall to the sides.   
  
How the hell do they get dressed then, Dean wondered.  
  
He and Castiel were standing behind a dumpster with a clear view of the club’s back entrance, waiting for the vampires to show themselves. They didn’t talk, and Dean made an effort to just ignore the angel, like he ignored Dean. He would have preferred to do this case alone, but he wouldn’t be able to identify the vampires that easily. But Castiel could.  
  
“Damn, where are those bastards. It’s getting boring here,” Dean muttered after almost an hour of waiting. He had already sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall, because his feet were getting sore from standing. It didn’t surprise him that the angel remained standing next to him.  
  
“Are you even sure the vamps are here?” Dean asked when the angel remained silent.  
  
“Yes,” Castiel replied. He didn’t even look at Dean; his eyes were focused on the back entrance.   
  
“God, this is like talking to a wall sometimes,” Dean muttered, mostly to himself. He heard Castiel shift next to him.  
  
That was when the door to the back entrance swung open, and three guys walked out; all dressed in dark clothes with long, black coats, and they laughed and drunk something from a bottle.   
  
Dean remained perfectly silent; his body tense and trying not to make a sound as he observed the guys.  
  
“Vamps?” He whispered to Castiel, who nodded in return; eyes not leaving the vampires. “Awesome,” Dean muttered, having his weapon ready in his hand.  
  
Two of the vampires went back into the club while the third one moved towards their hiding place, seemingly unaware of anything around him as he walked in his own thoughts.   
  
Dean took this opportunity and launched at the vampire; catching him off-guard and rolling him onto his back before he swung his weapon and cut the guy’s head off. The vampire had managed to scream – alerting the other vampires which quickly rushed from the club and attacked Dean from behind.  
  
“Dean!”  
  
He heard Castiel shout his name when he was tackled to the ground by the vampires. One was pinning him down and sat on top of him and _grinned_.   
  
An evil, smug grin.  
  
 _No. No, not like this!_  
  
Dean panicked. This was almost how it had gone with the werewolves. Pinning him down with their strength, taunting him, grinning in his face while they bit him, clawed at him, _broke_ him.  
  
He couldn’t move. He couldn’t push off the vampire. He was frozen in fear. He could almost hear the dying screams of Jim; calling for his help… But Dean can’t move. He can only listen to the screams of his friend…  
  
“Hey pretty boy. Looking scared,” the vampire grinned into his face, and Dean grimaced as he smelled the familiar smell of fresh blood in the vampire’s breath.  
  
“Fuck you,” Dean managed to bite out.  
  
It made the vampire laugh above him and before he could react, the vampire sunk his teeth into the flesh of his neck.  
  
Dean screamed.  
  
//  
  
Castiel was grabbing the first vampire, while the other was attacking Dean. He slammed it into the wall with a loud crackle as some of the bricks were broken from the impact. The vampire was staring back at him in fear as he pinned him there. It tried to lash out at the angel’s wings, but Castiel blocked the attack easily before he touched its face and light shined from it as he burned it out of existence.   
  
He turned when he heard the agonized scream coming from Dean, and saw the other vampire sinking its teeth into his partner’s neck.  
  
Castiel acted as fast as he could, and yanked the vampire’s face away from Dean, before he reached his hand around to its face and burned it to death with his Grace. He pulled the dead vampire off of Dean and threw the body aside.  
  
Dean was clutching at the wound in his neck. He was bleeding badly, but that was not the biggest concern.  
  
He had been infected.  
  
 _“Cas,_ ” Dean croaked; his green eyes staring into the angel’s as he leant over him. _“Fuck,_ ” he cursed in pain as the infection spread.  
  
Castiel frowned slightly at the shortened version of his name coming from Dean’s lips, before he hesitantly put his hand on the human’s chest.  
  
He had never healed a human before. Had never wanted to, or needed to.  
  
Humans were disgusting, selfish creatures, not worth using your Grace to heal.  
  
But there was something about Dean in this moment. Something Castiel could not identify.   
  
So he laid his hand on the human’s chest and let his Grace heal him – healing the wound and burning away the infection.  
  
//  
  
Dean felt the wound in his neck knit back together; healing. The awful sensation of something alien in his blood also disappeared as the angel touched him. The hand was warm and comfortable against his chest and he dwelled in the feeling until Castiel drew his hand back.  
  
Dean opened his eyes and stared into the piercing blue eyes of his partner. The angel was frowning at him, and for a moment Dean thought he looked concerned.  
  
He groaned and sat up; rubbing his neck which was now fully healed and painless. He cracked his neck a little and sighed in relief.  
  
“Thanks, man, thought I was done for,” Dean finally said.   
  
Castiel rose from his kneeling position as Dean made to stand as well. He stared when the angel’s wings spread slightly to help him keep his balance as he stood up, but he quickly looked away from them. They stared at each other for a while before the angel looked away.   
  
“Maybe you aren’t as bad as I thought,” Dean grinned.  
  
Castiel’s expression darkened and he glared back at Dean. “Do not pretend to know me,” he growled; wings spreading a little in an aggressive gesture, before he pushed past Dean and stalked out of the alley.  
  
Dean blinked. “Hey, what the fuck is your problem?!” he yelled after the angel, but the angel just kept walking until he was out of sight. “Fucking angels,” Dean muttered as he called the station to send someone to clean up this mess.


	3. Chapter 3

The next couple of weeks went by without much change. Both Dean and Castiel were rather cold towards the other, and it was really starting to affect Dean’s mood. The fact that he had his doubts about whether he was ready to go back to work, after the incident with the vampires in the alley, was also affecting Dean.  
  
Sam was getting rather annoyed by his brother’s foul mood, but Dean didn’t want to talk about it. Instead, he spent most of his nights picking up women at the local bars and went home with them to have sex. It helped him with his frustrations, though he wasn’t particularly proud of it. He had probably picked up almost half a dozen women since he started at work again… Heck, he had even picked up a guy, and it had been ages since he’d done that.  
  
Everything was just chaos since he returned to work. He wished the damn angel would just _be nice_ for once. The few times Dean thought Castiel was finally getting nicer, it always ended up getting even worse than it was before.  
  
They had worked on a few cases together over the past few weeks: demons, more vampires, a witch, even a shape-shifter. Dean hated to admit that the actual capture or killing of the creatures was actually going very well thanks to the angel’s senses and strength.  
  
When Dean showed up at work one morning, Castiel didn’t seem to have arrived yet. He went past the cubicles in the big room leading to his office, and overheard a conversation between his co-workers.  
  
“Did you hear that a rich family up on Silver Street was arrested for having vampire, demon and angel slaves?” said Allan to another colleague.  
  
Dean stopped and listened.  
  
“Yeah, I heard,” answered Eric, as the two were standing on either side of a cubicle wall, talking. “It’s too bad. Now we have those things put into the shelter which is already filled up by now. Probably won’t take long before they bust their way out and make a hell of this town.”  
  
Allen laughed. “Yeah, those damn things should have stayed where they were. Who the fuck forbid slavery of Creatures in the first place? Being a sex slave is the only thing those things are good for.”  
  
They both started laughing at that before Dean interfered.  
  
“Hey!”  
  
They looked up at Dean in surprise as he approached them.  
  
“Don’t fucking talk like that! It is not all Creatures who are bad, and you know it. Just because they aren’t human, doesn’t give us the right to imprison and torture them; many of them have feelings, too. Remember that,” Dean growled; pinning both men down with a glare.  
  
Allan and Eric stared at him in disbelief, so did the rest of the people in the room.  
  
“Okay, sure thing, Dean…” Allan stammered, staring at him in shock.  
  
Dean glared them down for another moment before he walked away.  
  
“What the fuck is your problem all of sudden?!” Eric shouted at him, but Dean ignored it.  
  
When Dean approached his office, he noticed Castiel standing at the corner of a hallway; leaning his shoulder against the wall and staring at Dean with his head titled, like he was assessing him. Obviously, he had heard the conversation just now.  
  
They stared at each other for a while before Dean finally went into the office.  
  
He sat down by his desk and buried his face in his hands.  
  
He had no idea why he just did that – defending the Creatures. But it was true. Not all of them were evil – particularly the angels. Angels had helped humans in many ways to fight the crime and terror committed by both humans and Creatures. And angels were not known for attacking or killing humans, so why have them as slaves? For status? Ridiculous.  
  
He was glad slavery had been banned, even if it meant that many of the former slaves were now roaming the streets and causing trouble. But those were only the bad ones – the good ones were being taken well care of.  
  
Dean almost didn’t notice it when the door opened and his boss walked in with Castiel behind him. He handed them with a new case; a shtriga was in town, taking life force from children which left them sick and vulnerable to decease in the hospitals. Seven children had already been touched by it, and they needed to kill the creature soon before the children starting dying.  
  
Once again, Dean would have preferred to take the car to the hospital to question the children and their parents, but Castiel’s wings just wouldn’t fit. So they were walking.  
  
They took a short-cut through the park which led almost right to the hospital. It was around noon and the park was filled with people on their lunch break, and school and kindergarten children.  
  
Castiel walked somewhere to Dean’s right, a bit behind him. They kept their distance to each other as usual. They didn’t go far into the park before the children started approaching them; staring and pointing at the angel’s wings.  
  
“Look, Mommy! He has wings!” said a little boy at a bench they just passed.  
  
Dean noticed how Castiel flinched slightly and drew his wings closer to himself. He smiled at the sight, though he felt kind of sorry for the guy.  
  
Castiel seemed very uncomfortable and starting walking faster; trying to get out of the park as fast as possible. When one of the children who trailed after them reached out a hand to touch his wings, Castiel almost yelped; the wings extended to the sides and he turned around to glare at the kid.  
  
“Whoa, hey!” Dean said, trying to calm down his partner. “It’s just kids, dude.”  
  
The children flinched back and stared in both fear and awe at Castiel, whose wings were still half-way extended, and the feathers were standing out a little.  
  
Probably something angels did to appear bigger and scare away people, Dean thought.  
  
“They get too close,” Castiel muttered and turned to walk again; wings folding against his back once more.  
  
Dean didn’t miss the look of fear in the angel’s eyes as he stared at the children.  
  
What was up with that?  
  
“Well, after what you just did, I don’t think they’ll be following you anymore,” Dean pointed out.  
  
After fifteen minutes they finally reached the hospital. The nurses led them to the room in which the sick children were kept. Several children were in the room, many of them related. All had been victims of the shtriga, and their parents were there, worried and crying.  
  
Dean walked into the room while Castiel stayed by the wall and eyed the children warily.  
  
Dean snorted at that.  
  
“Hey, I’m Dean, what’s your name?” He asked a little boy, who seemed to be the most lucid of the children. He kneeled down by the boy’s bed so their eyes were on the same level.  
  
“Timmy,” said the boy in a weak voice.  
  
Castiel observed as Dean talked to the boy. He asked him questions about the shtriga; if the boy remembered it, where he had been, if he had noticed anything, etc.  
  
“Am I going to die here?” asked Timmy suddenly.  
  
“What? No, no we won’t let that happen, not ever, you hear me?” Dean said; putting a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder.  
  
“How? You don’t even know where the thing is going to be.”  
  
“Well…” Dean shifted a little, moving closer to the boy. “You see my partner over there?” he gestured at Cas. “He’s got super-powers, and this shtriga can’t out-smart him. We’ll find this creature and we’ll make sure it can never hurt you or any other children ever again, okay?”  
  
“Okay,” Timmy smiled.  
  
“Now, be a big boy, because that is what your parents need right now; they need you to get through this and be brave, okay?”  
  
Timmy nodded and threw his arms around Dean’s neck in a hug. Dean returned the hug and smiled.  
  
Castiel watched the scene with a tilt of his head. He had never really seen humans hug before – especially not Dean. He had heard Dean say to Jo a few times how he hated ‘chick-flick moments’, but now the human was accepting the moment with a smile. He had comforted the frightened, sick boy – something Castiel had never seen any human do before.  


 

***

  
  
They had found and killed the shtriga successfully – Dean had predicted its next location, and Castiel helped him pin down the Creature while it was feeding on a child’s life force, so that Dean could finish it off. With the death of the shtriga, all of its victims recovered and survived.  
  
It was a well-done job.  
  
It was getting late when they returned to the station. They sat down in the office and divided the work between them as they closed up the case and filed it in the logbook.  
  
It was extremely hot in the room, and Dean had already taken off his jacket.  
  
Castiel, however, seemed very uncomfortable. He kept twitching and loosening his tie a little, and Dean could hear him sigh every once in a while because of the heat.  
  
It went on for a few minutes until Dean had enough.  
  
“Dude, just take it off,” Dean said.  
  
Castiel turned to look at him in surprise, eyes full of confusion. “What?”  
  
“Your coat. And jacket. It’s too hot for you in here, isn’t it?” Dean pointed out. His partner hesitated. “Look, I lost my jacket too; I can’t stand the heat, either. So just take them off if you wanna be comfortable.”  
  
It was probably the longest he had ever really talked to the angel before, and he saw Castiel think about it for a moment before he stood.  
  
Castiel turned slightly; most of his back facing Dean, and then he noticed how something in the wings seemed to change. Castiel then started shrugging off the coat and the jacket like the wings weren’t even there.  
  
So that was how angels got dressed. It always wondered Dean how they did it with those huge appendages in the way.  
  
Dean took the opportunity to look at the wings. They were spread out, more than Dean had ever seen them before, while the angel undressed. The feathers were smooth and perfect, and he could see how they all seemed to move along with every movement Castiel made.  
  
Dean shouldn’t be staring at the wings like this. It was wrong. Castiel had already pointed it out to him once.  
  
But he couldn’t help it.  
  
He held his breath while he continued to stare, taking in every movement of wings and feathers. Dean had never seen anything like them before, and it awed him.  
  
Dean shook his head.  
  
No, he did _not_ find Castiel hot!  
  
No way. Not ever. The guy was a dick!  
  
He turned to get back to work when, suddenly, he caught glimpse of something weird around the wing bone of the left wing. It was like a scar, going from the base of the wing almost up to the first joint. The feathers didn’t grow out properly, that much Dean could see, but he had missed it before because it was very hard to see unless you were really looking. Some of the muscle tissue was probably damaged, too.  
  
Dean frowned.  
  
Angels were good healers. They shouldn’t have any scars.  
  
What could possibly have happened that Castiel’s wing didn’t fully recover?  
  
He was brought out of his thoughts – and stare – as Castiel finished undressing and draped his trench coat and suit jacket over the back of his chair, and sat down; wings on either side of the chair. He glanced at Dean, who quickly pretended not to have been looking and they both went back to work.  


 

***

  
When Dean came back home, Sam sent him to the local supermarket to buy some stuff, as they didn’t even have anything to make dinner. Dean reluctantly went, after Sam insisted that it was his time to go. He suddenly felt himself looking forward to Sam moving in with Jess, then he wouldn’t boss him around anymore.  
  
As he walked down the aisle of the supermarket with a basket, looking for canned tomatoes, he suddenly heard someone talking on the aisle next to his. The voice was familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it, so Dean moved a few things aside and looked into the other aisle.  
  
His mouth nearly dropped.  
  
It was Castiel.  
  
And he was not alone. Some short, brown-winged angel was walking next to him. Dean wondered who that could be.  
  
“Damnit, bro, I told you we should have gone for take-out instead,” the brown-winged angel said.  
  
“We always have take-out when I’m with you, Gabriel,” Castiel replied; taking down a bag of something from a shelf and examining it.  
  
“Hey, I like take-out! Got a problem with that?”  
  
“Yes,” Castiel answered, annoyed, and put the bag into his cart.  
  
Gabriel sighed. “C’mon, bro, what is it with you? You’ve been so grumpy ever since big, old, scary Zachariah sent you to the humans’ hunter department.”  
  
“I do not wish to talk about it, Gabriel,” Castiel grumbled.  
  
“Well, you _need_ to talk about it,” Gabriel said, following his brother as the other angel started walking again. Dean walked with them, from the other aisle, and listened.  
  
When Castiel didn’t say anything, the elder angel sighed. “Look, I know you don’t like humans, giving everything that happened… But they aren’t all bad, trust me. I think you need to give your new partner a chance. What was his name? Duke, Doug, Dick…?”  
  
“Dean,” Castiel corrected him.  
  
“Right, Dean!” Gabriel exclaimed. “So? Have you talked to him yet? Made friends…?”  
  
Castiel sighed and stopped walking. “No, I… I try not to get too close. It’s better that way.”  
  
Dean frowned and listened carefully.  
  
“And? Is it working?” Gabriel said, smiling knowingly because he knew it was probably not going so well.  
  
“No,” Cas sighed. “It’s… I mean, sometimes I do things I probably shouldn’t have done. Like… healing him from a vampire infection,” he muttered.  
  
Gabriel laughed. “I can’t believe it! My brother _healed_ a human! Really? You’re like the biggest human-hating angel ever.”  
  
Castiel bit his lip. “He’s not… I mean, I don’t think he’s bad. He doesn’t seem bad, and his soul seems… pure. It felt like he was worth saving. But he’s like every other human; he only thinks about sex, women and showing off.”  
  
Dean snorted. He had been talking to his colleagues about that stuff and had probably showed off a few times, and the angel had probably overheard it, but it didn’t mean it was _all_ he cared about.  
  
“Hey, he’s human, that’s how humans are,” Gabriel shrugged. “Besides, angels think of it, too.”  
  
“I don’t,” Castiel muttered.  
  
“Well, you’re freak, it’s as easy as that,” Gabriel said.  
  
In other aisle, Dean blinked, confused.  
  
Castiel was keeping his distance to Dean because he was afraid of humans? He acted the way he did to avoid getting too close to him?  
  
He was confused, but everything sense now; the way Castiel had said he was sorry for Dean’s loss of his old partner, and how he had saved him from the vampire and the infection…  
  
Castiel wasn’t a mean, cold bastard like Dean thought he was – he just wanted Dean to believe that he was.  
  
Dean didn’t notice when a kid suddenly rammed into him with a cart; making him lose his balance – and since he was standing at the end of the aisle, he fell forward and into the path of the other aisle, where Castiel and Gabriel were standing.  
  
They both looked up when they heard the noise, and saw Dean fall over; bracing himself with his hands as he hit the floor.  
  
“Stupid kid!” Dean yelled at the boy, who only looked back over his shoulder at him before hurrying away.  
  
“Dean,” Castiel gasped, shocked, as he saw the other man. Gabriel simply raised his eyebrow at him.  
  
Dean got up and turned to face Castiel, who was still staring at him in shock.  
  
“Err, I’ll just….go,” Dean said, giving a nervous smile before he gathered his basket and hurried away.  
  
He was so screwed.


	4. Chapter 4

Dean thrashed in his bed and buried his face in his pillow.   
  
He really didn’t want to go to work today, not after he was busted eavesdropping on Castiel’s conversation with his brother. A conversation about _him_.  
  
God, how could he have been so stupid! Castiel wasn’t supposed to _see_ him.  
  
This was only going to make things even more awkward at work.  
  
“Dean?” Sam called from the other side of the door. “Dean?” When he got no reply, he entered his brother’s bedroom and found him on the bed; face buried in his pillow.  
  
“What is it, Sammy?” Dean groaned and turned his head sideways to look at him.  
  
“Dean, what are you doing? You’re supposed to go to work soon.” Sam crossed his arms at his chest and glared at him.   
  
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea…”  
  
“Why not? Are you sick?” Sam asked, his expression becoming worrying.  
  
“Not exactly.”  
  
“What happened?”   
  
Dean sighed. “I might kind of have overheard a conversation between Cas and his brother last night… About me.”  
  
“You _what?_ Dean, you don’t listen to other people’s private conversations!” Sam exclaimed.  
  
“I know that,” Dean snapped. “It just… It just happened.”  
  
“Let me guess… Cas found out you were listening in.”  
  
Dean groaned and buried his face in his pillow again. That was enough answer for Sam.  
  
“Dean, you have to face him. You can’t hide in here all day, or for the rest of the week for that matter,” Sam said.  
  
“God, I know that, Sammy! Just… I don’t think I can face him,” Dean mumbled.  
  
“Well, you have to. Now get up,” Sam said and took the blanket off of Dean who protested heavily.  
  


***

  
When Dean arrived at work, he was already 10 minutes late. He quickly entered his office, only to see that Castiel was already there, working through some files.  
  
“Um, hi,” Dean said, awkwardly, and moved over to his desk.  
  
Castiel didn’t answer, and Dean could feel that the angel was more tensed than usual. He glared at Dean out of the corner of his eye as he sat down.  
  
Dean noticed some new papers on his desk which weren’t there the night before.   
  
“What’s this?”  
  
“Mr. Caine asked us to sort some of these papers for him,” Castiel replied blankly, and didn’t look at Dean as he was sorting his own pile of papers.  
  
“Okay, cool,” Dean said with disinterest and began to sort the different papers.  
  
There was silence between them, and Dean did not like it once bit. After a few minutes he put the papers aside and turned to the angel.  
  
“Look, I know I was rude last night, listening in on something I shouldn’t have, but can you just stop ignoring me? We gotta talk this through, man,” Dean finally said.  
  
Now it was the angel’s turn to turn and glare at Dean. “No, you shouldn’t have listened in, and there is nothing to talk about,” he bit out.  
  
“Damnit, Cas, yes there is!”  
  
Castiel frowned at the nickname. “Why do you call me that?”  
  
“What? ‘Cas’? It’s a nickname. You know, when…” Dean trailed off. “Never mind, that’s not the point. The point is that you have a lot of explaining to do.”  
  
“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Castiel answered, coldly.   
  
Dean sighed and ran a hand through his short hair. “Look, I get it; you don’t like humans, you even fear us,” – Castiel flinched at the statement – “but not all of us are bad, you said so yourself last night. So stop treating me like I’m a cockroach or something – I’m just trying to get along with you here.”  
  
Castiel bit his lip and looked away. It seemed to be a habit of his.  
  
“I don’t…” He trailed off.  
  
“Cas—”  
  
“Don’t,” the angel interrupted, and Dean stopped himself and looked at him. “It is better if we do not get too close,” Castiel mumbled.  
  
“What? Why would that be—”   
  
Dean was interrupted when their superior entered the office in a hurry.   
  
“Dean, Castiel,” he said, looking between them. “You guys have been put on an emergency case; something has attacked the east part of the city and injured dozens of people. I want you two to go there and locate the son of a bitch.”  
  
“Yes, sir, but what exactly are we hunting?” Dean asked.  
  
“No idea, but it’s powerful,” their boss said. “Now get moving!”  
  
As soon as he left, Dean and Castiel hurried outside to Dean’s car. Castiel hesitated and stared at the black car.  
  
“Dude, what are you waiting for?” Dean asked, tripping impatiently at the driver’s door of his Impala.  
  
“I can’t…” Castiel muttered, and Dean got the hint.   
  
The wings were in the way.  
  
“Oh, right. Didn’t you make your wings like… intangible last night when you took off your coats? Can’t you do the same now? We’re kind of in a hurry.”  
  
Castiel hesitated for a moment before he got into the car, and Dean started driving towards the east part of town.  
  
“Can you please hurry? I can’t keep them like this for very long,” Castiel said; his whole body tense as he fought to keep his wings in this mode. The wings behind him were going through the seat like they were not even there, and Dean could see that it was difficult for Cas to keep up this magic.  
  
“You just have to hold on for a few more minutes,” Dean said, feeling a little sorry for the guy.  
  
It took them another twelve minutes to reach the place where the creature was last spotted. It was in an abandoned warehouse in the outskirts of the town. Dean noticed there were three police cars but no sign of the officers. That didn’t seem good.  
  
As soon as they got out of the car, Dean went over to the passenger side, where Castiel was standing outside the car with his hands resting on his knees and panting. His wings were hanging loosely to his sides; feathers touching the dirty ground but the angel didn’t seem to care.  
  
“You okay?”   
  
“Yes, give me a few seconds,” Castiel groaned.  
  
“Dude, we don’t have many seconds – that thing is in there,” Dean said, pointing towards the warehouse which looked old and unused. “Can you tell what that thing is?”  
  
Castiel looked over at the place and seemed to concentrate.   
  
“No. It is blocking me out.”  
  
Dean mumbled a curse under his breath and went to open the trunk of his car to retrieve weapons. He had no idea what they were fighting so he simply took a gun with silver bullets and some holy water, just in case. When he closed the trunk, Castiel already seemed to have regained his energy again, and they went towards the warehouse without a word.   
  
They were as quiet as possible as they approached the entrance. Dean had his gun ready in case the thing showed up. When they looked inside, Dean noticed that the warehouse wasn’t as empty as he had expected – it was filled with shelves with all kinds of crap, but the front was more or less clear.  
  
They went inside, quietly, with Castiel closely behind Dean. The angel wasn’t able to sense anything in the warehouse, apart from a presence. But he could not identify what it was; it wouldn’t let him.   
  
When they moved in further, Dean caught the sound of something. He motioned for Cas to be quiet and they both listened. Someone was moaning.  
  
Dean moved in the direction of the sound, before he discovered a man in the corner of the warehouse, hidden behind boxes and various equipment. The man was badly injured.  
  
“Hey, you okay, buddy?” Dean asked, and kneeled in front of the man. He saw immediately that the man was a cop, and he was bleeding badly from a wound in his side.  
  
The man groaned in pain. “No. You have to get out of here… that thing is… way too strong.”  
  
Castiel approached them and stood behind Dean.  
  
“Can’t you heal him?” Dean asked and looked up at his partner.  
  
Castiel looked very reluctant. “Healing costs a lot of energy,” he said, staring at the man’s wounds. “I don’t think I can do this if we have to fight the creature.”  
  
“Damnit,” Dean cursed.  
  
“Just get out of here,” the man said; grabbing Dean’s shoulder tightly and his eyes boring into Dean’s.  
  
“Did you see that the thing was?” Dean asked.  
  
“It was—”  
  
A loud noise, as several shelves were suddenly knocked over, startled them all and they turned to see what was going on. That was when a figure walked out from between the fallen shelves; the noise from the falling contents on them still echoing through the room, as the figure approached them.  
  
Four huge, white wings spread from the blonde-haired creature’s back. His eyes were now boring right into theirs, and Dean noticed how Castiel flinched back at the sight of the creature.  
  
“Holy…” Dean muttered.   
  
This was an _archangel._  
  
The archangel snarled and moved fast forward in an attack. Dean didn’t even register as Castiel darted forward and met the archangel half-way. The sound of the impact echoed through the warehouse, and the two angels hissed and fought each other.  
  
Dean managed to get the injured cop to stand and led him out of the warehouse. He looked back to see that Castiel was losing the fight; the archangel slammed him into the wall before he even got close enough to injure him.  
  
The archangel pinned Castiel against the wall, while Dean went outside with the injured man. Castiel struggled, but the other angel’s grip around his neck was cutting off most of his air. He gasped and tried to get free but to no avail.  
  
“Cas!” Dean shouted when he finally came back and saw him pinned down. The archangel simply waved a hand at him that made him fly across the room. Then he turned his attention back to other angel.  
  
“Tsk, tsk. An angel working with a human? That is rather disgusting,” the archangel sneered, and tightened his grip on Castiel’s neck. He leaned in closer and sniffed him, assessing him. “You’ve been tainted by humans. I can smell it on you. _In_ you.”  
  
Castiel whimpered. He could only stare back at the stronger angel in fear, as the angel’s eyes suddenly fell to Castiel’s trembling, white wings which were pressed against the wall.  
  
“Such a pretty angel, too,” the archangel murmured. He stroked his free hand along the lesser angel’s feathers.  
  
Castiel kicked and hissed at the violation and tried to get away, but the archangel simply grinned at him. Then the archangel grabbed onto the right wing, harshly, making Castiel cry out in pain. He smiled smugly when the lesser angel cried out.  
  
“No, don’t!” Castiel screamed, realizing his intentions.  
  
With a loud crack the bone in his right wing broke and Castiel screamed out in pain; bucking and kicking and trying to get away, which only made the archangel laugh and tighten his hand around the broken wing, injuring it further.  
  
When Dean finally managed to get on his feet again, Castiel was screaming and thrashing against the wall, and he saw blood oozing from the broken wing. “Damnit,” he cursed and ran towards the archangel.  
  
The archangel was too busy staring in satisfaction at the injured angel before him, that he didn’t even notice when Dean appeared behind him and plunged an angel-killing sword right through his chest (which he had just gotten from the trunk of his car). The archangel froze and screamed; staring back over his shoulder in shock as white light shined from the wound, and Dean was cast backwards when the angel seemed to explode from the inside.  
  
When Dean came to a few seconds later, the archangel was dead and Cas was screaming out in pain where he now lay on the ground. He rushed over to the angel.  
  
“Cas! Cas, can you hear me?” Dean asked; kneeling by the angel’s side, but Castiel was thrashing so much he couldn’t get very close.  
  
“Urgh, _it hurts!_ It hurts, it _fucking hurts!_ ” Castiel screamed and thrashed, and wouldn’t let Dean anywhere near his damaged wing.  
  
“Okay, it’s okay, I called for back-up, they’re coming soon, and then we’ll get you out of here,” Dean said, trying to calm the angel down. He was totally different from the way Dean knew him, and he could only imagine how much he hurt.   
  
He looked at wing. It looked bad. It seemed to be broken in several places, and the feathers were turning red from the blood that came from the wound. He could even see some of the bone sticking out from the wing.   
  
Dean winced. He tried to reach out to stop the bleeding in the wing, but Castiel slapped his hand away quickly.  
  
“ _No!_ Don’t touch me, please!” Castiel begged. Tears were falling from his eyes and his cheeks were soaked.  
  
Dean was about to protest but when he looked at him, he hesitated. He had never seen such fear or emotion in the angel’s eyes before, and it kind of scared him. He was _begging_ Dean not to touch him even though he was bleeding so badly.   
  
It didn’t take long before the back-up arrived with an ambulance. The paramedics had a lot of trouble getting Castiel into the ambulance, as the angel screamed and lashed out at anyone daring to touch him. They had to drug a little to calm him down and to be able to get him in; carefully avoiding the wings after Dean yelled at them not to touch them.   
  
  


***

  
When they arrived at the hospital, Castiel was once again putting up a big fight as the doctors tried to treat his injuries. He was thrashing on the table and wouldn’t let anyone near him.   
  
“Let go of me!” Castiel cried, trying to hit one of the doctors with his good wing – a blow that could have broken the doctor’s bones easily. “Don’t touch me! Go away!” he yelled. He hissed aggressively at the next doctor trying to approach him, and eventually the doctors stepped back.  
  
One of the doctors came out to Dean, who was watching from behind the door. The doctor sighed before saying, “He won’t let us anywhere near him. We’d drug him again, but we’re not sure of the dose required to keep him calm enough so we can operate – we don’t deal with angels often here at this hospital.”  
  
“Well, he can’t keep bleeding forever,” Dean said; frustrated. He looked into the room where Cas was still crying and fighting all people off. “Let me in, I’ll calm him down,” he finally said.  
  
The doctor nodded and led him into the room.  
  
Dean took in the scene: blood and feathers were everywhere, and the restraints used to tie the angel down were almost broken by now. He went over to Castiel and tried to calm him down.  
  
“Cas! Calm down, they’re just trying to help,” Dean said, approaching his partner slowly. “They have to treat your wounds, Cas…”  
  
Castiel groaned; his back arching from the pain in his wing and he whimpered. He seemed to calm down a little when he saw Dean was there.  
  
“Please… don’t let them touch me,” Castiel said, almost too quiet to hear, but Dean heard him.  
  
“I know you’re not too comfortable with it, but I guarantee you it’s only to help. So for God’s sakes, Cas, please… let them.”  
  
The angel stared up into Dean’s eyes; his teary blue eyes searching the green for a moment. Then he looked away and bit his bottom lip, and his eyes closed in surrender.   
  
“Fine,” he finally said. Dean sighed in relief. “But then _you_ do it,” Castiel added, not meeting Dean’s eyes.  
  
Dean looked up in surprise and shock. “What?”  
  
Dean had never actually done surgery before – only stitching up smaller injuries a few times, that was it. Castiel’s wing was severely damaged, much more than Dean was used to handling. But it was the only way to operate him without having to take the risk of drugging him, so he gave in.  
  
The doctors guided him through it, but Dean was still nervous.  
  
When he first put his hand on Castiel’s wing to steady it, the angel flinched violently before forcing himself to relax under Dean’s touch.  
  
Dean took a moment to feel the softness of the feathers under his hand. It was the softest thing he had ever touched. Seeing this wing so broken and damaged stirred something inside Dean he hadn’t felt before.   
  
No one should ever damage wings like these.  
  
Castiel was biting his lip during the whole operation. He whimpered and jerked every now and then, and sometimes cried out, but Dean was amazed by how he handled it. It took over an hour to treat the wound and patch it up as well as possible. He felt relieved when it was finally over and everything had gone well.  
  
Castiel refused to meet his eyes after that. He was sent to a room where he would rest for the night before being able to go home the next day. But it would take a week before the wing was healed, the doctors said. Damage done to the wings was long to heal. It was the only body part angels couldn’t heal immediately, but still healing faster than a human would.   
  
Dean couldn’t shake the feeling off that something had caused Castiel to act the way he had. He had seen other angels being treated by humans before, and the reaction was never that strong. Plus, there was the thing with the odd scar on the left wing that should have healed…  
  
He shouldn’t do this, but Dean eventually snatched Castiel’s medical files when the doctors weren’t around.  
  
He just _had_ to know.  
  
The file contained everything about Castiel’s medical history from all hospitals in the States. Dean opened it and sat down on a bench outside the angel’s room.  
  
When he first opened it, he noticed that it said: _“Angel: Castiel – former property of Bradley Hammond.”_  
  
Dean frowned. _‘Property’_?   
  
He turned the page where the list of Castiel’s medical history was.  
  
 _“Marks and bruising, severe burns, flesh wounds, deep cuts, dislocation of both wings, broken bones, infections, severe damage to the muscle tissue on the left wing, repeated sexual abuse and rape…”_  
  
Dean stopped reading after that. He was too shocked to keep reading.   
  
The angel’s reactions and fear towards humans finally made sense. Dean almost dropped the files when the realization came to him.  
  
Castiel had been a slave.


	5. Chapter 5

Castiel was sent home the next day to recover. His brother, Gabriel, had been the one to pick him up and take him home. He had glanced back at Dean when he picked up Cas, and their eyes had met. Then, Gabriel had nodded in gratitude at Dean and left.  
  
Dean was still trying to piece everything together. He had expected that something bad had happened to the angel once, but slavery was the one thing he had hoped was not what had happened. Slavery was banned seven years ago, though some people still had illegal slaves in their homes.  
  
Slavery explained why Cas’ left wing still had a scar, and why he had not healed himself from the injuries stated in the medical files until after he was released from his slavery. Slave owners would bind their angels with special collars which contained sigils made to suppress the angel’s powers – and thus also slow their ability to heal. Often, the angel-killing sword was used to as a weapon of torture. Wounds from that sword were hard for angels to heal, sometimes they would never heal. That was why Cas’ wing had never healed fully.  
  
Dean felt an unbelievable amount of anger and disgust towards the guy that had ‘owned’ Castiel. Humans, who had slaves for their own personal pleasure and for status, were the most despicable humans to walk this Earth, in Dean’s mind.  
  
He felt himself kicking random objects in his apartment in his rage before he finally calmed down.  
  
At work, his boss had given him Jo as a temporary help on his cases until Castiel was able to return to work. It would only be a week before he had healed enough to come back, and Dean actually found himself looking forward to it. Jo was giving him a hard time…  
  
Four days into Castiel’s recovery, Dean decided he better drop by at his place and see how it was going. He wondered how his partner would take his visit, but he couldn’t just stay away. Not after what had happened…  


 

***

  
Castiel was grateful for Gabriel’s help. His brother had taken vacation from his work and moved in with him for the week to take care of him.  
  
Castiel’s wings were recovering and weren’t as painful anymore. He had Dean to thank for that.  
  
Right. Dean.  
  
Castiel had sworn one thing to himself – he would _never_ let any human touch him ever again. Not ever. And yet he had allowed Dean to touch one of the most vulnerable places on his body.  
  
He had tried so hard not to get too close to the humans at his work – especially to Dean. But there was something about this human… something that made him different from the other humans Castiel had met. Dean was kind, caring, righteous – he stood up for the weak and seemed to care a lot for the people around him. He was selfless, in many ways. A quality Castiel had never seen in a human before. He hated humans more than anything else, and yet he felt himself drawn to this particular human somehow, and it scared him. It scared him how much he started to feel himself _care_ for Dean and _trust_ him.  
  
When Dean had first put his hand on his broken wing, Castiel had flinched. But then he had felt how gentle Dean’s touch was; how careful he had been not to hurt him, and how his warm hand had felt so good and comforting. The human had muttered words of comfort to him, and Castiel relaxed into his touch. Dean’s touch was warm and gentle, and it scared Castiel how he had leant into it… savored it, even though he had been in immense pain.  
  
He hadn’t been able to look Dean in the eye after that.  
  
He had let Dean do something he had sworn he would never let anyone do.  
  
It frightened him.  
  
Castiel groaned and shifted where he was lying on his belly on the couch. Thank god it was a couch made for angels – you could put down the back of it so it wouldn’t be in the way of the wings. Now, he was able to rest his wings on either side of him as he lay there.  
  
After the slavery, angels – as they only kind of Creature – had been accepted into the human society, because the humans needed their help to gain control over the creatures that had started to terrorize the world. Though, there was still a lot of discrimination and racism going on towards angels.  
  
At least the acceptance meant that they made angel-friendly furniture.  
  
Castiel was lying on the couch, watching TV, when the doorbell suddenly rang. He looked over his shoulder at Gabriel, who emerged from the bathroom and went towards the front door.  
  
“You expecting anyone, bro?” Gabriel asked, eyebrow raised.  
  
“No,” Castiel replied.  
  
He frowned. Who on earth would be visiting him?  
  
//  
  
Dean rang the doorbell to Castiel’s apartment. He had gotten the address from work. He shifted nervously. He wasn’t sure how Cas would react to seeing him there.  
  
When the door was opened, he noticed it was the same brown-winged angel he had seen Cas with in the supermarket a few days ago. Cas’ brother.  
  
The brown-winged angel looked slightly surprised to see him there, but the surprised look was soon replaced by a raise of his eyebrow.  
  
“Dean, right?”  
  
“Um, yeah,” Dean answered. Why was he so nervous? “I came here to check on Cas… If that’s okay.”  
  
“Sure, come on in,” Gabriel grinned and let him inside.  
  
The door led right into the living room of Castiel’s small apartment, and when he entered, he spotted the angel on a bed, – no, couch – on his back. His wings were resting on the furniture under him, and Dean’s eyes fell to the injured wing, which was still bandaged, before seeking out the angel’s eyes.  
  
Castiel stared back over his shoulder at Dean. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw him, and he immediately moved to sit up. His wings instinctively tried to wrap around his body, but the injured wing made him hiss and stop the movement.  
  
“Dean? What are you doing here?”  
  
“I just came to check on you,” Dean answered and shifted nervously.  
  
“Cassie, can I borrow your human for a second?” Gabriel suddenly asked, and grabbed a hold of Dean’s arm. The younger angel grimaced at the term but nodded. Dean felt himself being dragged into the kitchen by the elder angel. He hated to admit it, but the guy sure had a strong grip and it made him wince in pain.  
  
When they were in the kitchen, Gabriel released him and turned to face him. He stood a bit too close for Dean’s liking.  
  
“Listen, pal,” Gabriel growled. “You’re the first human I’ve ever seen my brother as much as even _look_ at – so if you hurt him, or by any means destroy his new-found trust, I’ll cut your fucking balls off.”  
  
Dean stared back at the angel in shock. He hadn’t expected that. When Gabriel’s eyes kept boring into his, Dean finally nodded.  
  
“Yeah, okay, I promise.”  
  
Suddenly the angel’s expression changed into a huge grin. “Good!” he exclaimed and hit Dean hard in the back. “Now go see my brother – and keep it in your pants.”  
  
“Wha…?” Dean’s eyes widened in almost shock and Gabriel pushed him into the living room until he was standing in front of Cas, who was watching them suspiciously from where he was sitting on the couch.  
  
“Well, I’ll be going now,” Gabriel announced when they came back to the living room. “Got a few things to take care of, and I imagine you guys wanna be alone for this. Call me if you need me, Cassie,” he said. Castiel nodded and the other angel disappeared out the door.  
  
Dean shifted nervously before sitting down in the chair across from the couch. Castiel moved to the edge of the couch so his feet touched the ground. His wings were behind him, resting on the soft couch.  
  
“Your brother is pretty scary,” Dean said after a minute.  
  
“Gabriel is very protective of me,” Castiel answered. He stared at the ground.  
  
“Yeah, so I noticed,” Dean smiled. “So, how are you feeling? Better?”  
  
Castiel nodded. “I’m recovering. My wing is much less painful, but it’ll be a few days before I can return to work.”  
  
“That’s okay. Take your time,” Dean said, shrugging. “The boss decided to let Jo assist me while you’re gone. She’s a real pain in the ass, keeps bossing me around.”  
  
Castiel smiled a little at that and it was the first time Dean had ever seen him smile. He felt his eyes focus on the change in the angel’s lips before snapping out of it.  
  
After a moment of silence, Castiel spoke, “The other day… You saved me from the archangel. He might have hurt me further, had you not intervened.” He looked up at Dean. “Thank you.”  
  
Dean was taken a little aback by that. “You’re welcome, Cas, any time,” he smiled. Castiel nodded. “How come he could hurt you? Are archangels really that much stronger than you?” Dean asked, wondering.  
  
“Archangels are the strongest kind of angel, much stronger than I am. I was… powerless against him,” Castiel and lowered his head in shame.  
  
“Hey, don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t have lasted one second with that guy – I just got lucky enough to catch him off-guard.”  
  
“No, you were smart,” Castiel pointed out.  
  
“Yeah, well… I’m sorry I didn’t get to him sooner…”  
  
“It’s alright. What matters is that you did, and for that I am grateful.”  
  
“So… Maybe we can work better together in the future…?” Dean asked, uncertainly and feeling a little hopeful.  
  
Castiel hesitated a little, but eventually said, “Yes, I’d like that.”  
  
Dean smiled. Hopefully they’d get along a little better from now on.  
  
Castiel’s expression turned pained, and Dean became concerned. “Hey, what’s wrong?”  
  
“I… It’s the bandages,” Castiel said. “My wing is healing and the bandages are turning uncomfortable. It itches…”  
  
“Want me to take them off for you?” Dean asked.  
  
The angel hesitated. “I’m not sure it’s time yet.”  
  
“Well, the doctor told me you should take them off after three to five days and let the rest get some air while it’s healing, so I guess it’s okay to take it off. It’s been four days, after all,” Dean said and shrugged.  
  
Castiel thought about it for a moment before he nodded. “Help me, please?”  
  
Dean nodded and stood up. Castiel stood up as well, and they moved away from the furniture to get more space. The angel slowly turned his back to him to give Dean better access to get the bandages off. It would also reduce the risk of him accidentally brushing his hand against the wound if he stood behind him.  
  
Dean approached him slowly, not wanting to scare the angel. When he laid a supporting hand on at the base of the wing bone, Castiel flinched. Dean drew his hand back immediately.  
  
“Whoa, it’s okay, it’s just to steady your wing while I remove the bandages,” Dean said, soothingly.  
  
“Oh.” Castiel felt a little embarrassed. He relaxed once again, and Dean slowly placed his hand back where it was before.  
  
Castiel looked back over his shoulder to see where he was and what he was doing, but as soon as Dean started to remove the bandages and supported the wing with a gentle hand, the angel relaxed and looked away.  
  
“Cas?” Dean suddenly asked while he was removing the bandages. Castiel’s head jerked up in attention. “Why did you… Why did you want me to operate you? You screamed and flinched from everyone else. Why not from me?”  
  
Castiel’s froze and tensed. He thought about the answer for a moment before replying, “I… I don’t know.” He stared at the ground in front of him. “You just… You just seem so different from other humans. Your soul is bright and pure, and you don’t seem to be a bad person. I guess that is why I trusted you to do it.”  
  
Dean let the words sink in, as he carefully removed the bandages. The feathers were still soft under his hands, but he could see that some of them were still covered in dried blood. It would be tough for Cas to clean that up later.  
  
His gaze fell to the scarred tissue on the left wing, and he remembered the files he had read.  
  
“You were a slave once, weren’t you?” he then asked softly, already knowing the answer.  
  
Castiel tensed up under his touch. He was silent for a moment before he nodded weakly.  
  
“Is that why you wanted to keep your distance to me? Why you wouldn’t let the doctors anywhere near you at the hospital?” Dean asked, almost done removing the bandages.  
  
Castiel nodded silently.  
  
“I’m sorry, Cas. About what happened to you. I can’t even imagine what it was like or what he did to you…” Dean trailed off, holding back the anger he felt towards the person who hurt Cas so badly. Castiel tensed a little at his words.  
  
“But I would never hurt you. I’m not like those stupid, status-craving bastards that keep slaves, and I never will be. Not over my dead body,” Dean said, and growled the last part.  
  
“I know you aren’t, Dean,” Castiel said, softly. When the last part of the bandages fell to the ground, he turned around to face Dean, and the blue eyes met the green ones. “But I am still not sure I am ready to fully trust a human yet, even if it’s just a colleague.”  
  
“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Dean said. “It’ll take time, I know.”  
  
There was silence between them again, and Dean felt like something between them had changed. Something was there which wasn’t there before.  
  
After a while, Castiel slowly brought his hand forward, hesitantly, and placed it carefully on Dean’s chest, right over his heart. It was an odd gesture, but it meant a lot to Castiel. He had never purposefully touched a human before, and the feel of Dean’s strong heart under his hand was… fascinating.  
  
Dean’s heart started pumping faster inside of him. He didn’t know why. They were standing so close, closer than ever, with the angel’s warm hand placed over his heart. He stared back at the angel who was staring at hand on his chest, before he finally looked up into Dean’s eyes.  
  
It was a very intimate moment for them both and it seemed to last forever.  
  
Suddenly, the door opened, and they both stepped back abruptly; staring at each other with wide eyes.  
  
“Hey guys, are you still—”  
  
Gabriel trailed off as he saw the two pull away from each other.  
  
“Wow, I was not expecting that,” he said, surprised. He took a moment to stare between them – looking from Cas’ now un-bandaged wing to the guilty expressions of them both. “He didn’t force you into anything, did he bro?” he asked with a growl.  
  
“No! Nothing happened,” Castiel said before Dean could protest. “Dean was taking the bandages off for me. They were getting uncomfortable.”  
  
“Right,” Gabriel said, not quite convinced. He glared at Dean before he went to the kitchen.  
  
“Um, I should probably head home. Sam’s probably getting worried,” Dean said.  
  
“Sam?” Castiel asked, tilting his head and frowning.  
  
“My brother,” Dean explained. “He’s such a girl sometimes,” he chuckled. Castiel’s lips curled into a little smile.  
  
“So, I’m going. Get well, Cas, see you at work soon,” Dean said, heading for the door.  
  
“Thank you. See you, Dean,” Castiel answered and smiled, before Dean left the apartment.  
  
Both had the feeling that working together would be a little different from now on


	6. Chapter 6

Castiel returned to work the following Thursday. When he entered the office, Dean could see that his wing was folded behind his back – obviously in almost perfect shape again, except that it wasn’t folded as much as the other wing. There was almost no trace of the awful injury left – only a few missing feathers and some scar tissue which would fade away soon.  
  
Castiel met his eyes when he entered and his lips curled into a tiny smile. Dean smiled back.  
  
“Hey,” Dean greeted him from his seat. “How are you doing? Is the pain gone?”  
  
“It is mostly gone,” Castiel confirmed and walked around his desk and sat down; turning in his chair so he was facing Dean. He shifted his wing behind him and unfurled it a little. “But the muscle is still a little sore. It should be gone soon, though.”  
  
“Glad to hear that,” Dean smiled. “And I’m glad you’re back. You have no idea how annoying Jo has been,” he grumbled and sank into his chair.  
  
Jo chose that moment to bust in through the door.  
  
“Oh! You’re back,” she said, looking at Castiel. “Damn,” she said, and the angel looked hurt for a moment. “No, no! Not like that! It’s because I’ve had such a good time pissing Dean off to the point he was almost bursting, and now I can’t do that anymore,” she explained and laughed.  
  
Castiel relaxed and glanced over at Dean.  
  
“I told you she’s been a nightmare,” Dean muttered and sank further into his chair.  
  
“And you’re such a pussy,” Jo retorted. “Anyway, I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it,” she grinned.  
  
They both stared at her with wide eyes.  
  
“We’re not lovebirds!” Dean protested.  
  
“Well, considering how you’ve gone from _‘I fucking hate my new partner who’s mean and grumpy all the time’_ to _‘I wish Cas was back to save me from this crazy chick, he’s so much better’_ I figured something might have happened between you two,” she grinned.  
  
“Just scram already,” Dean said; trying to hide his blush. Jo laughed and went to the door. “And don’t let the door hit you in the ass!” he yelled.  
  
“I won’t!” Jo yelled back, amused, and left.  
  
Dean sighed and relaxed in his chair. Castiel was still staring at him with that frown of his. Dean winced a little.  
  
“Well, I can’t say I was happy having you as my new partner. Frankly, I actually kind of hated you,” Dean said; noting how Castiel tensed a little. “Well, you can’t say you were treating me nicely, and it kind of pissed me off. Though, I think I would have hated anyone they replaced Jim with. I’m just glad you’re not that much of a dick anymore,” he smirked.  
  
“I didn’t like you much, either,” Castiel confessed. “Mostly because you’re human, and I was angry for being transferred here, so I suppose I took it out on you. But I don’t dislike you anymore.”  
  
“That’s nice to know,” Dean said, smiling.  
  
Castiel smiled back.  
  
“Hey, what do you say about taking a walk?” Dean suddenly asked. “All the paper work is done for now, and the boss can just inform us about a case on my cell. So, maybe instead of hanging around in here we could go somewhere, get some fresh air?”  
  
Castiel looked a little taken aback by the idea, but he seemed to think it over. “If it pleases you, I wouldn’t mind.”  
  
“Cool, then let’s go,” Dean grinned and got up. Castiel followed him and they left the office.  
  
As the entered the big room outside the office, where all the phone workers and secretaries worked inside their cubicles, Dean became aware of the looks that were sent their way. Castiel sensed them too, and his wings wrapped around him tighter. Dean chose to ignore his co-workers’ stares and guided the angel towards the back where the exit was.  
  
“Hey Winchester, where are you going?” Allan said, suddenly showing up in front of them, blocking their path. Dean stopped and glared at him.  
  
“I’m going out, is that a crime?” Dean replied, coolly, glaring at him.  
  
Jo showed up behind Allan, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Allan, leave him be,” she said.  
  
“No,” Allan growled at her. He looked back at Dean with nothing but contempt in his eyes. “I thought we were pals, Dean. And now you’re suddenly hanging out with _him?_ ” He gestured at Cas, who flinched a little behind Dean. “Angels are disgusting, vile bastards, why do you hang out with them?”  
  
Dean raised his eyebrows. “Oh, they’re disgusting and vile? Wow, I wonder what that makes you then.”  
  
“Don’t you dare insult me, you pathetic, angel-loving—”  
  
Dean cut him off before he could finish his sentence and grabbed Allan by his throat. Everyone in the room gasped, and Dean could feel Castiel’s surprised eyes on him as he gripped his older colleague and leaned in close to him.  
  
“If I hear one more offending word about angels, or any other creature for that matter, from your mouth, Allan, I’ll have you fired. Understood?” Dean growled at him. Allan stared back at him, wide-eyed, gasping for breath.  
  
“In this job we hunt down any creature that is a threat to the people, and we help those who are not a threat. Angels are helping us doing that. You will not threat our allies or anyone else around me, again.”  
  
Allan’s nodded at Dean’s words, and stared into the other man’s hateful eyes, before Dean finally released him. Allan fell to the ground, panting, grabbing at his sore throat before he glared up at Dean.  
  
Talk and whisper filled the room, and soon it was replaced by some of colleagues cheering. Allan crawled away in defeat, and Dean found himself being pulled into a tight hug by Jo.  
  
“God, it’s about time you did that!” Jo cheered as he hugged him. “He was always such an arrogant bastard, anyway,” she said when she pulled back from the hug.  
  
“Yeah, he’s an ass,” Dean agreed, smiling at her. He glanced back at Cas, who was staring back at him with an unreadable expression on his face. His head was titled, and Dean wondered if that was a habit of his.  
  
“So, wanna get out of here before another asshole shows up and blocks our path?”  
  
Castiel nodded, and they quickly made their way out from the now very noisy room.  


 

***

  
Dean took him to the park they had walked through the week before.  
  
He couldn’t help but notice how close they were walking now, compared to before. Though, Dean still made sure to put a good distance between himself and the angel to not make him feel uncomfortable.  
  
“Sorry about back there. Some people are just asses,” Dean said, after a few minutes of silence.  
  
“It’s alright. I’m… used to such people,” Castiel said, looking at the ground.  
  
Dean glanced at him. “You wanna talk about it?” he asked, slowly.  
  
Castiel tensed. “No.”  
  
“Okay. But let me know if you do,” Dean said.  
  
Castiel nodded and remained silent, and Dean let it be. They walked for a while, enjoying the sun on their faces and the children’s happy laughter around them.  
  
“I used to come here often, to get my mind off things,” Dean said after a while. Castiel looked at him. “Jim would join me sometimes. He too knew how hard the work was.”  
  
“Your old partner?” Castiel asked.  
  
“Yeah,” Dean confirmed.  
  
“You must have been very close.”  
  
“He was probably my best friend,” Dean said, looking at the few clouds in the sky above. “It’s funny… how you never really appreciate the people around you until after they’re gone.”  
  
“I’m sure he knew he was your friend,” Castiel said.  
  
“He should have. With all the times I saved his ass or dragged him out to get so ass-drunk we both couldn’t walk straight,” Dean said, laughing at the memory.  
  
Castiel smiled and Dean enjoyed seeing the angel getting out of his shell a little. It made him feel happy.  
  
They were still walking around the park, slowly, not in any hurry.  
  
“So, Cas. Do you have any family beside Gabriel?”  
  
Castiel blinked at the question. “No. I lost my parents when I was little, I barely have any memories of them. Gabriel told me we had a sister, Anna… but she was sold when we were little and we never saw her again.”  
  
“I’m sorry, Cas,” Dean said, suddenly feeling bad about bringing it up.  
  
“What about your family, Dean?” Castiel asked, looking at him.  
  
Dean sighed. “Well, my mom died when I was four, in a house fire. I barely remember her. My father raised Sam and me very strictly, but he died of cancer when I was 19, and since then it’s just been Sam and me.”  
  
“You must be close to your brother then.”  
  
“Yeah, we’re close,” Dean smiled. “But we have our up and downs, of course.”  
  
There was silence between them for a moment, until Castiel spoke again. “Why did you choose this job, Dean?” he asked.  
  
“As a hunter?” Dean asked, surprised. Castiel nodded. “Hmm, I don’t know. I guess it just seemed right. I get to help some people, bring a little peace into his fucked-up world,” he shrugged. “Better this than some boring job as a salesman,” he snorted.  
  
“You’re a very selfless person, aren’t you?” Castiel said, tilting his head.  
  
Dean laughed. “I dunno. Never really thought of myself in that way, Cas.”  
  
“But you are,” Castiel said. Dean looked at him and their eyes met. He stared into the angel’s bright blue eyes, almost forgetting himself until he snapped his eyes away.  
  
They continued to walk in silence, and Dean suddenly became aware of people staring at them – well, Castiel mostly. He could sense the angel tensing a little as he noticed it too. The wings twitched behind his back, making Dean look at them. He took in the massive, white wings behind the angel and wondered what he’d look like, flying the skies above.  
  
Then a thought suddenly hit him.  
  
“Can you still fly? Even with that wing,” Dean asked, gesturing at the left wing, which had once been damaged by what Dean believed to be the angel-killing sword.  
  
Castiel bit his lip. “No, not anymore. The muscle is too damaged for that.” He looked to the ground and they both slowly stopped walking.  
  
Dean winced in sympathy when he looked at the angel.  
  
Angels shouldn’t be grounded like that. They were creatures of the skies, they were meant to fly, and Castiel had lost that. He’d never be able to fly again.  
  
“I’m sorry, Cas,” Dean said, looking away. “Shit, I’m sorry.”  
  
Castiel looked up at him in surprise. “This isn’t your fault, Dean. You have nothing to be sorry for. And I’m fine, really.”  
  
“How can you be fine when you’re meant to fly?” Dean said, a bit harsher than he intended.  
  
Castiel stared at him. “I never really learned it, anyway,” he admitted. “My… owner… wouldn’t let me leave the house.”  
  
“What? How long were you there?” Dean asked, taken aback. Angels usually began to fly around the age of ten, and Castiel would have to have been a slave since he was a child if he had never properly learned how to fly.  
  
“I… I don’t wish to talk about it,” Castiel said, looking away. “Please stop asking me about that, Dean.” His voice was getting tense, and Dean saw it as a soft warning.  
  
“Right. I’m sorry,” Dean said, immediately feeling guilty for poking too much in matters that weren’t his business. “Um, so, you wanna get some ice cream before we get called off to a case?” he asked, switching topics.  
  
Castiel’s head snapped up and he stared back at Dean in confusion. “Ice cream…?”  
  
Dean’s jaw almost dropped. “Dude, you’ve never had ice cream?”  
  
Castiel shook his head; frown still visible on his forehead as he stared at Dean.  
  
Dean laughed. “Alright, ice cream it is. Can’t believe you’ve never heard of it before.”  
  
“I don’t go out much, obviously,” Castiel muttered, feeling a little embarrassed about not knowing such common things.  
  
“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” Dean grinned, and led him towards the closest ice cream stand in the park. Castiel followed him, eyeing the stand curiously.  
  
Dean ordered soft ice for them both, since he knew this park’s stands had some of the best soft ice in the city.  
  
Castiel watched with interest as Dean was handed the two ice creams and passed one to the angel. He accepted it, and started reaching for his trench coat pocket before Dean cut him off.  
  
“Hey, it’s on me, you don’t have to pay me anything,” Dean smiled, and licked at his soft ice.  
  
Castiel hesitated a little before he gave in. “Thank you,” he said, and looked at his soft ice. He carefully licked it, gathered some of it on his tongue before tasting it.  
  
“Good?” Dean asked, grinning.  
  
Something in Castiel’s eyes lit up a little and he nodded, taking another lick. Dean grinned and ate his own soft ice. They moved on, walking along the path throughout the park, eating their ice creams.  
  
Dean was amused how the angel seemed to enjoy this treat, which had been totally unknown to him until now. For a brief moment he wondered what Castiel had been fed with while he had been a slave. Had he been fed at all? And where had he slept? In a bed or on the cold floor of a basement?  
  
Many questions filled his mind as he thought about the things Castiel must have gone through, but he wouldn’t ask him about it. It was not his business, and the angel shouldn’t tell him until he was ready.  
  
If he ever was.  
  
So all Dean could do was to support his new partner and make sure he would never end up in such a place again.  
  
“Thank you for the ice cream, Dean,” Castiel said once they were done eating.  
  
“You’re welcome, Cas,” Dean smiled. “So… how do you like it?” he asked after a moment.  
  
Castiel looked at him in confusion.  
  
“You know… us, talking together,” Dean explained. “I’m glad we’re finally talking,” he smirked.  
  
Castiel looked a little guilty. “Gabriel has been pushing me. He says I need to be… social. It’s easy for him to say, he’s always been the open one,” he muttered. “But I am glad we’re talking now,” he added, looking at Dean with a tiny smile.  
  
Dean smiled back. He was about to say something when his phone rang. He cursed and reached into his pocket to see who was calling. It was their boss, probably calling about another case.  
  
“It’s the boss,” Dean said, looking at his phone. “You ready for a case, or would you rather wait?”  
  
“No, I’m ready,” Castiel said, tiny smile on his lips. “I’m just hoping for a case that won’t require too much of me.”  
  
“If it does, I’ll ask him to pass it on to someone else, okay?” Dean said. Castiel nodded, gratefully, and Dean smiled at him.  
  
Then he picked up his phone to hear what case they had been assigned to, while Castiel shifted a little closer to listen in.


	7. Chapter 7

Over the next few days they got a lot of cases to do. Mostly it was smaller cases, for which Castiel was grateful because he was still recovering from his injuries. Their teamwork was better now, which made it a lot easier to finish a case, and it also made it easier for both of them to get up in the morning to go to work.  
  
Dean found himself not wanting to trade Cas for anyone. Even though the angel still had to gain more trust in him, but that would come, eventually.  
  
After a hunt, Dean and Castiel returned to their office to make a report about it and put it into the logbook. They were standing in the middle of the room, sorting through the last papers together, when Sam showed up in the office.  
  
“Dean, can I talk to you?” Sam said, standing in the doorway.  
  
“Sammy?” Dean asked, surprised. His brother never came to him at work. “Sure, come on in.” He went over and greeted his brother with a hug, which the taller man returned immediately. Castiel stared between them in wonder, unsure of what was going on.  
  
“Sam, this is Cas – well, Castiel, actually,” Dean said when they broke away from the hug, and gestured at the angel. “Cas, this is my little brother, Sammy.”  
  
“It’s Sam,” Sam corrected, annoyed, before turning to face the angel. “It’s good to finally meet you. Dean has told me about you,” he smiled and reached his hand out for Cas to shake.  
  
Castiel stared at the hand for a moment before taking it, hesitantly. He shook it very lightly and quickly drew his hand back from the touch. He tensed and glanced at Dean. Exactly how much had Dean told Sam?  
  
Dean could see the question in his eyes but wasn’t able to answer it with Sam in the room, otherwise his brother would start asking questions. He turned back to Sam, who seemed a little puzzled by Cas’ strange behavior.  
  
“So, why are you here?” he asked.  
  
“Oh!” Sam said, almost having forgotten it. “Well, the other night when I was out with a few of my friends from school, we went to this bar on 24th Street. And I could have sworn that for a moment the bartender was… well, staring at me with these black eyes.”  
  
“Black eyes? A demon?” Dean said, surprised.  
  
Sam nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure he was. I said to the others I was going to the restroom, but actually I went into the back, and it reeked of sulfur back there.”  
  
Dean and Castiel shared a glance.  
  
“What do you think, Cas? Should we go to town tonight?”  
  
“Shouldn’t we rather go after the demon?” Castiel asked, confused.  
  
“That’s what I meant… Never mind,” Dean sighed. “Anyway, let’s go check it out tonight, unless you have something else you gotta do.”  
  
“I don’t,” Castiel replied.  
  
“Good, it’s settled then.”  
  
“Yeah, thanks guys. I’m gonna head for my next class, I can’t miss that one,” Sam said, heading for the door.  
  
“You still got classes today? How come you’re here then?” Dean asked, frowning.  
  
“Mr. Henderson cancelled his class so I had a free period,” Sam explained and shrugged. “Now, I really gotta go, so good luck you guys.”  
  
“Yeah, see ya later, Sammy,” Dean said as his brother disappeared out the door. He sighed. He had been hoping to be able to come home by dinner time tonight, but it seemed to have been pushed until late night now.  
  
He went back to the papers they were sorting earlier when he noticed that Castiel was still looking a little out of place. Dean turned to look at him.  
  
“Cas, I didn’t tell him anything about your past, if that’s what you think,” Dean assured him. “He has no reason to know about it. Besides, I thought you might not like it if I told him.”  
  
Castiel nodded, grateful for Dean’s silence. “Thank you.”  
  
“No problem,” Dean smiled.  
  
They went back to work and prepared for tonight. It had been a while since Dean had been on a demon hunt, and he couldn’t risk anything going wrong, even though he had an angel to back him up.  
  


***

  
  
The bar was almost full when they arrived around 8pm that night. The music was loud, people were talking and chatting, and drinks were being served at every table. The light in the bar was low, but candles on some of the tables lit up the atmosphere.  
  
Dean entered the place with Castiel closely behind him. The angel folded his wings tight against his back, and seemed extremely nervous about going into the human-filled bar. But he had to go with Dean in there – if the demon bartender did not do anything suspicious, Dean wouldn’t know who he was, so he needed the angel’s help for this.  
  
Castiel stared around the bar in an almost paranoid matter. He flinched from every human that got too close to him, and refused to step away from the side of the counter, where at least he could have his back and wings against something solid without risking that a human suddenly appeared out of nowhere behind him. Angels never turned their backs to a human – it would expose their wings too much. So he took comfort in the solid bar counter behind him and relaxed a little.  
  
“You see him yet?” Dean asked as they stood by the bar.  
  
Castiel glanced across the counter and looked at the bartenders. There was only one guy and one girl serving.  
  
“No. It’s not them,” he said, disappointed and turned back to Dean.  
  
“Damn, means we gotta wait ‘til the guy shows up for work. If he even does,” Dean muttered.  
  
Castiel tensed. “I don’t wish to stay here for long.”  
  
Dean looked at him and saw how uncomfortable he was. He knew the angel was afraid of humans, and the bar was filled with them – not only that, most of the people here were the kind that would take Castiel to a room and have their way with him if they could. Dean wouldn’t let that happen, though.  
  
“We’ll stay here for only half an hour, okay? If he doesn’t show, I’ll get Sam to point him out to us so we know who he is and then come back. Sound good?”  
  
Castiel nodded, gratefully.  
  
Dean turned around and ordered something to drink. Castiel said he didn’t want anything, so he simply ordered a beer for himself. He could allow himself to have one beer tonight while they waited for the demon to show.  
  
It didn’t take long before a girl’s attention was directed at Dean.  
  
She approached him, not being shy about it, and when Dean turned around she cornered him against back against the counter.  
  
“Hey sweetie, you available?” She asked. Dean’s eyes widened a little as she pushed her body against his; her boobs against his chest and her face right up in his. She licked her lips seductively, staring at Dean’s lips before looking up into his green eyes with her grey ones.  
  
She looked hot. She was probably around 24 years old, only four years younger than Dean. She had dark brown hair, nice boobs, good hips, and a pretty red dress which showed off her figure.  
  
She was exactly Dean’s type.  
  
“Depends,” Dean smirked. “What’s your name?”  
  
“Nathalie,” she purred against him, making Dean shudder.  
  
“Dean,” he croaked; distracted by her closeness.  
  
//  
  
Castiel stared wide-eyed at the girl who had approached Dean. He knew humans were very straightforward when it came to their mating rituals, but he was still slightly shocked by how forward this female seemed. She walked right up to an alpha-male to express her interest, with no hesitation or foreplay. That was almost unheard of for angels.  
  
And Dean was flirting back. Just like that.  
  
Castiel tensed. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable, and there was something stinging in his chest as he watched the girl seduce Dean right in front of him.  
  
He watched as the girl’s arms went around Dean’s neck, and Dean’s hands found her slender waist. They were smiling and flirting, and it made that feeling inside Castiel want to burst out through his chest.  
  
It was jealousy.  
  
But why? Castiel didn’t feel for Dean in any… sexual way – at least he shouldn’t. He hated sex. His former ‘owner’ had forced him to sex every single day, and Castiel had hated and feared it more than anything else that was ever done to him. It was a violating thing and he couldn’t understand how people seemed to like it so much that they performed it with almost anyone.  
  
So why was he feeling jealous now, with this girl’s arms around Dean, and Dean’s around her, and both of them almost ready to copulate?  
  
It made no sense.  
  
//  
  
Dean was so lost in this girl in front of him, he had almost forgotten that Cas was standing right next to him. He turned to look at the angel. Castiel looked very uncomfortable, and almost pained. He looked into his eyes filled with pain and confusion, and that was when Dean finally snapped out of it.  
  
What the hell was he doing? In front of Cas, too!  
  
It was wrong, and he felt guilt rise inside of him.  
  
The girl – Nathalie – was giggling somewhere around his neck, and Dean pushed her away. She resisted but he finally managed to push her away from him so he could look at her.  
  
“Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t do this tonight,” Dean said; his hands on her upper arms to make her keep her distance.  
  
She stared at him and her mouth dropped. “You bastard!” She shouted at him and pulled away from Dean’s grip and stalked through the crowd and out of sight.  
  
Dean sighed in relief.  
  
“You didn’t have to do that,” Castiel said, feeling a little guilty that Dean lost his ‘prize’.  
  
“No, Cas, I did,” Dean said, turning to face him. “I came here to hunt a demon with you; not to pick up girls.” He winced as he felt his half-hard erection poking against his jeans, but ignored it. It would go away soon.  
  
Castiel decided to leave it be, and glanced across the bar again, before he spotted another bartender. He recognized him immediately as being a demon.  
  
“Dean,” Castiel said, urgently. “It’s him.” He looked at the demon and Dean followed his gaze.  
  
“Good, he’s here,” Dean said; reaching into his back pocket where he had holy water.  
  
But the demon chose that moment to look over at them, and when he saw Castiel’s wings and how they were both staring back at him, he panicked and fled.  
  
“Damnit,” Dean cursed when the demon ran for the back door. “Follow me,” he yelled after Cas, and they ran out of the bar quickly to catch up with the demon.  
  
They caught the demon in an alley behind the bar; Dean cornered him up against a dead-end. There was no one around, only stray cats and stinking dumpsters were filling the dark alley. The smell of garbage and rotten meat filled Dean’s nose and he wrinkled it in disgust.  
  
But he had the demon cornered, and he was staring back at them with panic in his eyes.  
  
“No way out for you now, huh, demon?” Dean smirked.  
  
“Don’t be too sure of that,” the demon sneered. He whistled, loudly, and Dean wondered for a second what the hell the guy was doing, until he saw a shadow form in front of him. The shadow’s form changed and manifested itself into a dog – no, a Hellhound.  
  
Dean flinched back; staring at the growling, aggressive creature in fear, before the demon shouted something and the hellhound attacked.  
  
“Dean!” Castiel yelled, shocked, but was pulled back by the demon who was suddenly on him. He panicked; feeling the demon claw at his feathers, and he cried out in pain as it managed to pull a few of them out. Castiel shook the demon off of him and punched it into the wall where he exorcised it with a touch.  
  
Dean was struggling with the hellhound, which had knocked him to the ground. It had managed to sink its teeth into his right arm and it wouldn’t let go. He screamed in pain and managed to take out his silver knife from his back pocket and plunge it into the hellhound’s neck; blood splattering everywhere. He knew it wouldn’t kill the hound, but it did make it let go of his arm.  
  
The hellhound whined, and before it could launch itself at Dean again, Castiel grabbed it and used his powers to turn it to ashes.  
  
When the hellhound’s ashes crumbled to the ground, Dean exhaled and lay back on the ground; his head hitting the asphalt with a small thud.  
  
Castiel kneeled and leaned over him, worried.  
  
“Dean?”  
  
“God damnit, Cas,” Dean said, smiling. “I think the two of us could make a habit out of saving each other’s lives all the time,” he grinned, but winced when the pain in his arm stung him.  
  
Castiel merely smiled at his comment and laid a hand over Dean’s injured arm.  
  
“Cas.” Dean stopped him; grabbing his hand with his own uninjured one. “Don’t. I know healing is a big deal for you guys, so don’t. I’ll be fine.”  
  
Castiel stared up into his eyes, hesitating a little.  
  
“But I want to,” he whispered. He gently shook Dean’s hand off and laid his own hand back on Dean’s injured arm. He let his Grace touch the injury; the wound healing up slowly under their gazes until it was completely gone.  
  
Letting their Grace touch someone like this was not something angels did often, and only to the ones deserving of it, or the ones they trusted.  
  
Castiel didn’t fully trust Dean yet, but with this he did.  
  
When he was done, Castiel didn’t remove his hand from Dean’s arm. Instead, they stared into the human’s eyes. Something unknown was exchanged between them then. Neither blinked as they continued to stare into each other’s eyes.  
  
Castiel was leaning over Dean, and slowly, hesitantly, he leaned down a little more; his eyes suddenly staring at the hunter’s lips which were now so close.  
  
Dean stared back until his gaze fell to the angel’s lips as well, and he found himself leaning upwards, towards the angel until their lips almost brushed, inches from the other. They were so close and Dean’s heart was going faster than ever.  
  
Suddenly, the moment was broken as Castiel drew back abruptly; eyes wide. Dean stared back at him with an equal expression.  
  
“I- I can’t,” Castiel stammered.  
  
Dean stared back at him in bewilderment as the angel rose from his position over Dean and stood up.  
  
Dean stood up as well, and there was an awkward moment where they both avoided the other’s eyes, before they eventually walked out of the alley together, in silence.  
  
But they both knew that something had changed between them that night.  
  
Whether it was for the better or for the worse was still unknown.


	8. Chapter 8

They didn’t talk about the almost-kiss. But something had changed in their relationship. They both knew it. Slowly, a mutual attraction between them had built up, without either of them noticing – until the other night where they had almost kissed.  
  
But they don’t talk about it, they pretend it didn’t happen. However, it did change a lot of things in their relationship.  
  
Over the next few weeks, Castiel started to stand a little closer to Dean than usual, and their hands would touch ‘accidentally’ when handing the other papers, and sometimes their fingers would linger against the other’s for a little longer than necessary. It’s only small changes, but Dean knew that they are a huge step for Cas, who has always been afraid of another person’s touch.  
  
The progress is small but it’s something.  
  
They never address the changes, simply let them happen. It’s like they’re testing each other and what is going on between them, maybe to confirm their own confusing feelings or just to try and get closer.  
  
Castiel had brushed his wing against Dean recently; letting it touch his side gently, and allowed him to feel the soft feathers against his naked arm. Dean had stood still and hadn’t moved a muscle or tried to touch the feathers in any way. He wasn’t sure what Cas was doing, but the angel had seemed pleased about his calm reaction.  
  
Sometimes, they would also glance at the other when they thought he wasn’t looking, which led to some awkward moments in the office when they caught each other’s gazes.  
  
Which they also ignored and didn’t talk about. Even though it had been weeks since the almost-kiss, neither of them commented on the changes that were happening between them.  
  
What were they supposed to say, anyway?  
  
Instead, they simply enjoyed the changes and they grew closer to each other, slowly, but surely.  
  
Dean himself was amazed how fast he seemed to have fallen for the angel. He found him attractive, yes, but there was something more in it. Something he had not felt for anyone before.  
  
On a rainy Friday, they left work together.  
  
Dean had started driving Castiel to work and home. They didn’t live far from each other, and it took only seven minutes to drive there from work. Castiel didn’t like to make his wings intangible for that long, but he did it anyway. Why, Dean wasn’t sure, maybe it was for the company. Usually, it was Gabriel who drove him to and from work because he wouldn’t let Cas walk the streets alone. It took some weight off Gabriel that he didn’t need to drive him anymore.  
  
Dean’s car was parked outside the Hunter’s Department, right outside the exit, and when they went out they saw Sam standing over by the Impala, waiting.  
  
Sam wasn’t staying with Dean anymore because Dean had recovered from his injures, and Sam and his fiancé, Jess, had found a new a place to live in. Dean didn’t complain. Now there was no one to wake up him right after his alarm went off in the morning and forbid him to use the snooze button.  
  
“Sammy? What’s up?” Dean said, stopping in front of him with Castiel standing behind him.  
  
“Well, I’m free for today, same as you, so I thought I’d drop by here and see if you were free tonight, if you wanna hang out,” Sam said. “By hanging out I mean watch or movie or something at your place.” He was obviously referring to the fact that he did not feel like going out to bars tonight and get drunk, which was what Dean mostly preferred doing.  
  
“Sure, I’m free tonight,” Dean said, smiling at his brother. He glanced back at the angel who was still standing somewhere to his left. “You wanna join us, Cas?” He looked over at Sam and added, “You OK if he joins in?”  
  
“Sure,” Sam said, looking a little surprised that Dean would invite the angel over just like that. He knew things were going better between them – Dean had told him – but he had no idea that things were going so well that his brother would invite him home. Dean never invited his buddies or colleagues home, they always went out somewhere. The only person he had ever invited home before was Jim, but that had only been a few times.  
  
The angel’s head snapped up and he looked a little uncertain. “I… I don’t think I’ve ever really watched a movie before,” he admitted. He blushed a little.  
  
”Seriously? Never?” Dean asked, not believing it. “Oh god, then you _have_ to come! You can’t live your life without watching a good movie, Cas,” he grinned.  
  
“I- I don’t know,” Castiel said, uncertainly. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to join them. He had never gone home with anyone before, beside Gabriel.  
  
“Oh c’mon, it’ll be fun,” Dean said, encouraging. “Sam and I won’t eat you, I promise.”  
  
Castiel seemed to have an inner fight with himself. He bit his lip and shifted nervously, before he finally gave in. “Fine, I’ll go.”  
  
“Great,” Dean smiled brightly.  
  
They entered the car with Sam on the passenger seat and Cas in the back. Dean told him to lean forward against the front seat, so his wings could fit behind him and lie across the backseat. Castiel did so, but found it pretty uncomfortable sitting there.  
  
Dean and Sam talked about Sam’s school in the car. Castiel listened in but didn’t comment. He was still feeling shy and afraid around everyone but Dean. Sam still seemed a little puzzled by the angel’s behavior – how he seemed to keep for himself except when he’s with Dean.  
  
When he looked up into the rearview mirror, Castiel saw that Dean was looking at him. But the human quickly looked away, shifting awkwardly, and Castiel looked away as well, close to blushing. These awkward moments had been happening a lot lately.  
  
They arrived at Dean’s apartment a few minutes later, and Castiel was happy to finally stretch his wings again when he exited the car.  
  
When they entered his apartment, Dean noticed how Castiel’s wings were folded tighter against his back than usual, and how he hugged his arms around himself as he entered Dean’s home. He wouldn’t move further than the entrance hall, and glanced up at Dean with eyes full of fear.  
  
The last time he had been in a home with humans was when he had been a slave. Of course he was feeling nervous, Dean thought, and immediately felt guilty for putting him in this situation – he hadn’t thought about how Cas would react to being there.  
  
Dean met his eye, silently telling him it was alright, and Cas relaxed a little; his wings less tense behind his back and his shoulders dropped a little. He stepped into the living room, hesitantly, but once he was there he started looking around curiously.  
  
Sam caught the silent communication between the two and frowned. Something was definitely going on there.  
  
“So, any idea which movie to watch?” Dean asked Sam, who was putting down his stuff next to the TV.  
  
“Hmm, well, I brought over a few horrors and actions, I think.”  
  
Dean froze. He leaned in and told Sam, “Don’t you have anything less… traumatic? We aren’t watching this movie alone, ya know.” He glanced over at Cas, who was staring curiously at some photos on a table, and Sam followed his gaze.  
  
“Oh,” he said. “Hmm, I do have one animation movie, if that works. It only contains light violence and it’s a fantasy.”  
  
“Okay, that should do,” Dean said.  
  
Sam was surprised and confused over the choice of genre, but he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he prepared the movie while Dean went to the kitchen to find some snacks.  
  
Once they were ready, Dean and Cas shared the couch while Sam took the chair.  
  
It was difficult with his large wings to adjust himself on the couch, so Cas ended up throwing them over the back of the couch; the right wing resting near Dean’s head. It looked very awkward and very uncomfortable, too, but it was physically impossible for Cas to lean back on the couch otherwise. The wings were fucking huge, after all.  
  
There was a good distance between them because of the wings, but Dean didn’t mind. Actually, he was slightly surprised when the angel placed his right wing near him – all he had to do was reach up and touch it. But he wouldn’t. It would be a horrible violation against his friend.  
  
The movie started and they all shared chips and drank soda which Dean provided. Normally he and Sam would drink beer, but he was out of beer, and soda just sometimes tasted better with chips than beer did.  
  
Castiel was watching the movie with curiosity and interest. Though, Dean doubted it was the first time he’d watched TV. He had seen one in the angel’s apartment, but apparently he didn’t use it to watch movies with.  
  
Dean was relieved that the movie didn’t contain any scenes that would have traumatized the angel. Violence and sex would have scared him away.  
  
He couldn’t help but glance at Castiel every now and then and see how curious and interested he was about seeing a movie for the first time, and never looked away from the screen. Dean smiled. It was like watching a child do something for the first time.  
  
But at the end of the movie, the male main character grabbed the female character’s ass, playfully, making a lewd comment.  
  
Castiel flinched and curled in on himself immediately.  
  
“Hey, it’s okay, nothing happened,” Dean soothed him; leaning towards him to look at Castiel’s face which was frozen in shock. “It’s just a movie, and the character was just fooling around a little. It’s alright.”  
  
He wanted to reach out and touch Castiel to reassure him, but he wasn’t sure if he should do that, so he didn’t.  
  
Castiel simply nodded in understanding and calmed down.  
  
“You okay?” Dean asked, softly.  
  
Castiel nodded. “Yes, I’m fine.”  
  
“Good. Tell me if you aren’t,” Dean added.  
  
Dean hadn’t expected the movie to contain a such scene. It was for minors! What the hell was wrong with moviemakers nowadays?  
  
Sam observed the interaction silently. He wondered what was going on. He obviously had a lot of questions he had to ask Dean later.  
  
When the movie was over, Sam said he had to go home again – Jess would be worried otherwise. Dean knew it wasn’t quite true, as Sam could simply phone her about it, but he didn’t say anything.  
  
When he left, Dean sighed and glanced back at Castiel, who seemed a little nervous; he was shifting on his feet and staring at the ground, like he wanted to ask something.  
  
“What is it, Cas? You got to be somewhere?”  
  
“No, that’s not…” He trailed off and bit his lip again. It was a nervous habit and Dean thought he looked kind of adorable like that.  
  
 _‘Adorable’, seriously? What is wrong with my mind lately,_ Dean thought.  
  
“What is it?” Dean prompted, suddenly worried when Cas didn’t say anything. He stepped a little closer but stopped at a decent distance.  
  
Castiel glanced up at him before quickly looking away. “I was wondering if I may use your shower. They cut off the hot water supply at my apartment because they’re replacing the old pipes in the basement, so I can’t shower there.”  
  
“Oh,” Dean said, not knowing if he should feel surprised or relieved. “Um, sure, go ahead. It’s the door right behind you, to the left,” he said, and pointed behind Cas. There were two doors – one to the bathroom and one to his bedroom.  
  
“Thank you,” Castiel said, feeling relieved.  
  
“There are towels, soap and shampoo inside, just use what you need,” Dean told him. Then something hit him. “Are you even sure you can shower here? I mean, the stall isn’t small but your wings are kinda huge – no offence,” he added when Castiel’s eyes narrowed, “so isn’t it gonna be… troublesome?”  
  
“It is always troublesome to wash them but it needs to be done,” Castiel replied. “I may take a while, though – my wings will need some light grooming and… it takes time.” He blushed, and Dean briefly wondered why.  
  
“Sure, take your time.”  
  
Castiel nodded and went over to the bathroom. “I’ll be sure to clean up after myself,” he said before going in.  
  
“Don’t worry about it,” Dean said.  
  
Dean sat down on the couch and waited. After a few minutes he could hear the shower turn on. He could hear him splashing around in there a little, and he suddenly wondered what the angel looked like with his wings all wet and slippery from the shower… He imagined how the feathers would glister from the water, and how Cas’ dark hair would be flat and fall over his forehead as water poured down over his body.  
  
His jeans suddenly felt tighter than before…  
  
Dean shook his head, pushing the thoughts and images away.  
  
No! He couldn’t think about that. Not now, with Cas _right in there,_ in the shower. What the hell was he thinking?  
  
He groaned and closed his eyes; trying to think of something else.  
  
 _Anything_ else.  
  
But it was difficult, knowing what Cas was doing in the room right next to him. But he couldn’t allow himself to have such thoughts about the angel – he had been through a hell that Dean could never hope to imagine. He knew that angel slaves had been at the mercy of their owners’ sexual desires every day.  
  
Dean felt a sudden anger over what he knew had been done to Castiel once, and he wanted to track down that son of a bitch who did this to him and fucking rip him apart.  
  
The sound of the shower turning off brought Dean out of his thoughts, and he took a deep breath; calming down.  
  
He could hear Castiel fumble around in there; probably trying to groom his wings the best he could. Dean imagined that it must be very difficult for an angel to do on his own – it would be hard to reach every single feather and correct them.  
  
Ten minutes later, Castiel walked out of the bathroom – wearing only his dress shirt and the black pants. His hair was messy, but his feathers were relatively smooth, though they still appeared to be quite wet.  
  
Dean stared at the wings. Cas looked fucking hot like that; wings wet and smooth, his hair all messy, his white shirt and pants appearing at least one size too big on his small frame...  
  
Dean’s eyes were so glued to the wings and the slender body that he almost didn’t hear Cas speak.  
  
“I will put on the rest of my clothes soon,” Castiel quickly said, “but I need my wings to dry first. They… don’t dry very fast.” He shifted and some droplets fell from the wings to the wooden floor. He looked a little panicked. “I didn’t wish to make your floor wet, I’m sorry.”  
  
“Don’t worry about it, Cas, it’s fine,” Dean smiled, a little amused by how Cas seemed to panic over such a small thing. Then it dawned on him that perhaps his old owner had been very strict about such things.  
  
He stood up and walked over to the angel. “Seriously, don’t worry about it. I’ll clean it up later.”  
  
Castiel simply nodded.  
  
“Did you manage to do some grooming?” Dean asked. He kind of regretted asking it because he could see at Castiel that the question was a little inappropriate.  
  
“The parts I could reach, yes. The rest Gabriel will have to help me with later.”  
  
“Gabriel grooms you?” Dean asked, surprised.  
  
“Of course, he’s my brother. Only family or mates are allowed to touch or groom our wings,” Castiel explained, like it was obvious.  
  
“Oh. But… you let me touch yours after your injury. I don’t really fall into either of categories, do I…?”  
  
Castiel’s eyes widened and his cheeks reddened somewhat. “I… That was different. It was an emergency. Besides, it doesn’t matter if it’s not actual family that does it – as long as it is someone the angel trusts.”  
  
Dean hesitated. “So you… trust me, a lot?” he asked, uncertainly.  
  
This conversation was getting more awkward than Dean intended.  
  
Castiel also hesitated a little. “I… Yes, I do. You’re the person I trust the most, aside from Gabriel. But it is not a full trust.” Dean looked a little hurt at that, and he immediately added, “Dean, not like that! I mean— I trust you, but I don’t…” He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.  
  
“It’s okay, Cas, I get it,” Dean said. “I wasn’t expecting you to trust me a hundred percent, anyway – even though I was hoping that the one I like would be able to trust me more…”  
  
The words slipped out before he could stop them, and Castiel heard them. His head snapped up immediately.  
  
“What?” Castiel said; eyes wide as he stared at Dean in shock.  
  
Dean stared back at him in equal shock.  
  
Shit, why did he say that?  
  
“Err,” Dean stammered; mouth opening a few times but no words came out. “I don’t… I mean… Never mind – I didn’t say anything,” he quickly said, trying to push the matter away and forget about it, but Castiel wouldn’t let it go.  
  
“Dean,” Castiel sighed, knowing very well what he had said.  
  
Dean bit lip almost painfully, only wanting to take back his words or get the hell out of there.  
  
“Look, I like you, okay?” He finally said, staring the angel into the eyes who stared back at him with an unreadable expression. “I like you a lot, even though you’re an angel and I’m a human. I don’t know when these feelings started, I just…” he trailed off, feeling awkward and stupid. “I care for you.”  
  
Castiel was silent for a moment, before his wings drooped a little; more water droplets falling to the floor, but neither noticed.  
  
“I- I like you, too,” he whispered, staring at the floor. “And it scares me,” he said; voice sounding broken, and it made Dean look up in worry. “I shouldn’t feel this way… I have never…” He seemed about to panic and that alerted Dean.  
  
“Whoa, hey,” Dean said, approaching Castiel slowly until he was right in front of him. Castiel tensed a little when he came closer but he didn’t back away. “It’s alright, I know it’s frightening – I wasn’t expecting this, either.”  
  
“But—”  
  
“But,” Dean interrupted him. “I am not going to force you into anything that you don’t want, Cas. I promise. If you don’t want to do this, I’ll back away, okay? We can just forget about this, if you want.”  
  
Castiel seemed unable to form words.  
  
“But I want this,” he finally said, looking up and back into Dean’s green eyes. “I want to be with you, I like your company a lot, and you make me feel… safe. It’s just… I don’t want to do anything too physical, I don’t think I’m ready for that yet,” he said.  
  
They were standing so close…  
  
“That’s alright, Cas. I understand. We’ll take this slow, okay?”  
  
Castiel nodded, gratefully, and then he slowly leant forward.  
  
Dean froze as Cas suddenly rested his head against his chest; listening to his heartbeat beneath the t-shirt.  
  
Heartbeats were good. They were relaxing, calming. And Dean’s chest was warm and comforting unlike other people Castiel knew.  
  
Dean hesitated a little before he brought his hand up, slowly, to the angel’s hair. Realizing his intention, Castiel relaxed and let Dean pet his hair gently. The hair was still a little wet but it felt soft, like silk, under Dean’s fingers.  
  
They stood there, sharing an intimate moment for what seemed like forever.  
  
Dean just hoped he wouldn’t mess this up.  
  
He had finally found the one he was meant to be with, and he’d wait as long as it’d take before Cas was ready.  
  
But for now, this was enough, and Dean melted into the moment.


	9. Chapter 9

After their confession, they started to grow closer to one another.  
  
Over the next weeks Castiel visited Dean’s place more often, and sometimes the other way around. They started taking some of their paperwork with them home to work on because then they were free from the noise of their colleagues, and them prying into their relationship all the time.  
  
Most of their co-workers were surprised at the changes, they kept staring at them and whispering about them and their ‘interspecies-relationship’, but Dean ignored them. In the end, it was mostly just Jo he talked to, beside Cas.  
  
Touches became more frequent, too, though Dean was careful about making a new move, so he always waited for Cas to do it first.  
  
But on a recent hunt, Dean forgot all about that. They had been hunting creatures from hell which could rip apart anyone they touched. During the hunt, they had gotten separated and Dean had heard the angel’s screams. He had feared the worst then. But Castiel had made it out, and when he saw him again – alive and well – Dean really wanted to cry (of course he’d never admit that). He had run over to the angel and hugged him, tightly.  
  
Castiel had frozen up in his arms, and Dean remembered himself then. But before he could pull back, he felt the angel’s arms move to his back; hugging him back.  
  
That was probably the greatest progress and after that. Castiel started sitting closer to Dean on the couch when they watched something, he even started resting his head against his shoulder. Such things made Dean a little uncomfortable because he wasn’t used to doing any of that with people, ever. But Castiel seemed to find comfort in it, so he let it happen. The weight against his side was warm and comfortable anyway.  
  
Sam had caught them a few times when he had appeared in Dean’s apartment, unannounced. He had stared in confusion and suspicion between them, but he never said anything.  
  
It was on a Tuesday evening that Sam dropped by Dean’s place to return some movies he had borrowed. When Dean answered the door and let him in, Sam immediately saw that Cas was once again visiting.  
  
“Hey Sammy, brought me back my stuff?” Dean asked.  
  
Sam handed his brother the bag with the films and glanced between him and Cas, who was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt – probably Dean’s clothing. “I see the two of you still spend a lot of time together.”  
  
“Uh, yeah, we were doing some work together, again. It’s much easier doing it here,” Dean explained and accepted the bag from Sam.  
  
“Right,” Sam said, unconvinced. “Can I talk to you for a minute, Dean?”  
  
Dean frowned. “Uh sure,” he said, turning around to look at Castiel. “I’ll be right back.” The angel nodded, glancing between them, before Sam dragged Dean into the kitchen and closed the door.  
  
“Dude, this is the fifth time I come over and see the two of you together here – and I know you’ve been visiting his place, too. You have never taken anyone with you home, except for Jim, but even he hasn’t been here that often. So, you wanna tell me what’s going on, Dean?” Sam said, crossing his arms in front of his chest and raising an eyebrow at his brother.  
  
Dean was taken a little aback by the sudden questioning. “Err, well, it’s kind of… complicated.”  
  
“Then uncomplicated it for me,” Sam said. His patience was running low. “You’ve been hiding things from me lately, Dean. I feel it, so spit out. Are the two of you… together…?”  
  
Dean’s eyes widened. “Dude!” he exclaimed before sighing. “Yes, we kind of are – happy now?” He hissed.  
  
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Sam asked, feeling a little hurt.  
  
“It’s not that easy, we aren’t…” Dean trailed off. “Look, we’re together, but it’s still only in the very early stages and I… I couldn’t tell you because I can’t answer the questions you have about him.”  
  
“What? About Cas? Is there something wrong?”  
  
“Sam, I can’t tell you, okay? Not until he’s ready,” Dean said, staring up at his brother and begging him to just forget about it and switch the subject.  
  
Sam stared at him in worry. “Okay, if you say so…” He glanced at the kitchen door, then back at Dean. “I didn’t even know you were into guys,” he muttered.  
  
“Dude, I’m not having that conversation with you now,” Dean grimaced. “And Cas isn’t the first guy I’ve… ‘been with’. Even though we aren’t even that far, yet.”  
  
“Seriously?” Sam said, almost shocked. “You’ve been dancing around each other for months and you haven’t even…”  
  
“It’s complicated, Sam,” Dean snapped, not wanting to talk about it further.  
  
“Wow,” Sam said, stunned. “You must really care about the guy if you’re taking it _that_ slowly.”  
  
“Dude, it’s not like I fuck everything at the first chance I get,” Dean protested.  
  
“That’s exactly how it is,” Sam said, dead serious.  
  
Dean opened and closed his mouth, not knowing what to say to that, ‘cause it was true.  
  
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Dean muttered, feeling very uncomfortable with this conversation.  
  
Sam grinned. “Yeah, I do, I’ll go now and leave you two to it.” His suggestive tone made Dean scowl at him.  
  
They entered the living room again Castiel glanced up at them, immediately noticing the small tension coming from Dean. He frowned in concern.  
  
Sam went for the door and reached for the door handle, but stopped and glanced at the angel. “Take good care of my brother, Cas. He really cares about you,” he said, softly.  
  
Castiel’s eyes widened a little and Sam smiled at him and left the apartment. Then he glanced over at Dean, whose face immediately flushed and looked away.  
  
“Um, so, wanna watch a movie, Cas?” Dean asked, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.  
  
“Is everything alright? With you and Sam,” Castiel asked, worried.  
  
“What? Of course. Sam’s just being a bitch, that’s all,” Dean said, smiling. “You coming?” he asked as he put on some comedy and went to the couch.  
  
Castiel joined him and they settled down; the angel pulling his knees up to his chest, facing Dean, while his large wings were sprayed out on the couch behind him. He snuggled a little closer to Dean so that his head was resting on his shoulder, and Dean tensed.  
  
After Castiel was done settling and hummed in comfort, Dean relaxed. He liked that the angel was getting more comfortable around him and was now touching him. It had taken a while and the improvements were big, but Castiel still didn’t want to take it further.  
  
They hadn’t even kissed yet.  
  
Dean was a little frustrated with that, ‘cause he often found himself wondering what those lips would taste like, and how it would feel to melt into a kiss with him. But he wouldn’t force Castiel into anything he wasn’t ready for.  
  
So, Dean waited.  
  
Though, he admitted he was getting a little impatient sometimes.  
  
Somewhere near the end of the movie, Dean heard soft noises coming from Castiel. He turned his head and saw that the angel had fallen asleep against him. He was sitting in an awkward position against Dean because he couldn’t rest his back against the couch, and Sam would probably laugh if he ever saw this.  
  
No! He couldn’t think about his brother now – not with the angel sleeping so peacefully against him.  
  
The movie was almost over, and Castiel shifted in his sleep. His hand somehow ended up on Dean’s upper thigh – very close to his crotch.  
  
Shit, why was this happening now?  
  
Dean groaned and tried to move his hand up to remove Castiel’s hand, but when the angel moved, Dean was afraid he was going to wake up so he didn’t dare move his arms. Dean closed his eyes and tried not to think about how close Cas’ hand was to his crotch, and how warm his body felt against his.  
  
Crap, he was getting hard.  
  
Dean muttered a curse and tried to shift as his erection became uncomfortable in his jeans. It didn’t help him when Castiel’s left wing suddenly moved and curled around the angel’s side – Dean having the perfect view of the beautiful feathers moving elegantly.  
  
He was now so painfully hard that he had to bite his lip to control himself.  
  
Why was Castiel affecting him in this way? Especially when Dean was trying so hard to hold back and be patient with him.  
  
Castiel shifted against him and Dean froze. The hand next to his crotch was finally removed as Castiel stretched.  
  
Blue eyes opened, blinking sleepily, before meeting Dean’s.  
  
“Dean?” Castiel murmured.  
  
“Hey, Cas.” Dean tried to smile, but it was difficult when he was so embarrassingly hard and he prayed that he wouldn’t get caught.  
  
But that was when Castiel’s gaze travelled from his eyes down to his chest – and eventually his crotch.  
  
Castiel gasped and flinched back a little; staring up at Dean with eyes full of confusion and fear.  
  
Dean cursed at himself.  
  
“I’m sorry! It’s just… You fell asleep, against me, and your hand kind of…” Dean trailed off. “I know I shouldn’t do this around you, but I couldn’t help it. I’m sorry, Cas.”  
  
The angel stared at him for a moment. “Don’t be sorry, Dean, it’s… a natural reaction,” Castiel said, calmly. He stared at Dean’s crotch again, then back to his face before he turned his head away, biting his lip. “It’s not that I’m not curious about this, it’s just… I don’t like sex, much. It’s violating and I don’t understand why people like it so much.”  
  
Dean sighed. “Cas… The sex you were forced into is very different from normal sex. It’s all about who you do it with and how you do it. It’s actually quite pleasurable when you do it right.”  
  
“I have a hard time believing that,” Castiel muttered.  
  
“Well, you didn’t think touching someone was comfortable before, either, did you?”  
  
Castiel thought about it and hesitated.  
  
“I… I want to know what it would feel like with someone you love, but I’m not sure I’m ready to try it yet,” he said. “I’m sorry if that disappoints you, I don’t mean to take that pleasure from you, it’s just—”  
  
“Cas,” Dean interrupted him. Castiel fell silent and looked at him. “Don’t worry about it. Seriously. I don’t want to push you into anything that you’re not ready for, okay? I’ll wait.”  
  
“But… you like sex,” Castiel said, frowning.  
  
“Yes, I like sex, but not if you don’t enjoy it, too,” Dean said. “Now shut up, this is embarrassing,” he muttered, face reddening.  
  
Castiel didn’t say anything more, and Dean felt relieved. He relaxed against the couch, closing his eyes, until he felt the angel shift closer. He opened his eyes and stared into the blue ones.  
  
Castiel was staring him into the eyes until he said, “I may not be ready to take it that far with you yet, Dean… but I believe I’m ready for this.”  
  
Then he leaned in and brushed his lips against Dean’s; kissing him.  
  
Dean was too stunned to react at first, but soon he kissed him back, slowly, and felt his angel gasp against him before they deepened the kiss a little.  
  
The angel’s mouth tasted like fresh rain – everything Dean had imagined, and a moan escaped him.  
  
Castiel’s hand moved to his shoulder, grasping at his shirt; unsure of what to do, and Dean moved his own hand up to cup the angel’s cheek.  
  
Somehow their positions changed, and Castiel ended above Dean; resting his weight on his knees which were straddling Dean’s hips, avoiding contact with Dean’s lap and groin as he leaned himself over him. Dean’s right hand moved to the angel’s back, hand brushing against the sensitive feathers by accident. Castiel growled softly and kissed him harder.  
  
When they finally pulled back from the kiss, theirs faces were mere inches from each other, and they stared into the other’s eyes; panting.  
  
Dean didn’t know how long they sat like that.  
  
Nor did he care.


	10. Chapter 10

Their kisses had become a lot more frequent after the first one.  
  
Cas was no longer holding back as much, and their kisses had deepened. However, Dean was still very careful about where he put his hands while they kissed. He was okay with it going slowly. He had never really been in an actual relationship before – only a very few which didn’t last more than a few weeks – and this slow development gave him a better insight into who Cas was. It was so much more than just the physical between them, which was all new to Dean. For him, it had always been about the sex whenever he hooked up with someone, but now it was different. Now, he felt things he had never felt before, like how being together with another person could make you happy.  
  
Kisses had never held as much meaning with anyone as they did with Cas.  
  
They colleagues had started sensing that something was more different now, and they had started talking behind Dean’s back. Jo defended them; telling the others it was none of their business and to back off. Dean was grateful for her support, though she was always nagging into their relationship. Dean waved her off; she didn’t need to know everything about him and Cas.  
  
After a successful case, involving Dean getting smacked into a wall by a monster clown (which totally hurt his ego), he and Castiel were leaving work for the day.  
  
When they stepped outside, Sam was waiting by the Impala, flashing Dean a bright grin when he saw him. Dean glanced behind his brother and saw that Jess was there as well.  
  
“Dean! I was waiting for you to get off work,” Sam smiled and hugged his brother.  
  
Dean hugged him back before stepping back and allowing Jess to hug him as well. He was faintly aware of Cas standing somewhere behind him, looking between them curiously.  
  
“What? No comments about my shirt this time, Dean? I’m surprised,” Jess grinned when they pulled back from the hug. She was referring to the times Dean had said that her shirt was nice, even though she knew exactly that he was referring to her breasts and not the shirt.  
  
“What? Oh! Nah, can’t do that when I’m taken,” Dean smirked, reaching over and pulling his arm around Cas’ waist. The angel tensed briefly because of being in public, but soon he relaxed, leaning into Dean’s touch.  
  
Sam’s jaw almost dropped. “Seriously, the two of you are finally together? Wow.”  
  
“Dude, we were that last time, too,” Dean pointed out.  
  
“Yeah, but not this… obvious,” Sam said, looking between them.  
  
“Wow, I never thought Dean would ever actually date someone,” Jess smiled, earning a snort from Dean. Jess looked over at the angel and reached out her hand. “I’m Jess, Sam’s girlfriend.”  
  
Once again, Castiel stared at the outstretched hand warily before he shook it quickly, introducing himself.  
  
Jess seemed a little puzzled by the strange behavior, but didn’t comment on it.  
  
“So, why are you here?” Dean finally asked, tightening his hold around the angel who seemed uncomfortable. He knew Cas hated shaking hands with strangers because he avoided physical contact with pretty much anyone but Dean. Castiel relaxed when he stepped closer to him.  
  
“Well, we come because we have good news,” Sam said, grinning at Jess who leaned into his side, her hand on his chest as she smiled up at him.  
  
“We’re getting married,” Jess said, looking at Dean, whose jaw almost dropped. Castiel’s eyes widened in surprise.  
  
“What? Married? How? When?” Dean asked, shocked.  
  
“Don’t act so shocked, we were already engaged,” Jess chuckled.  
  
“Yeah, but… Isn’t this a bit soon?”  
  
“Dude, we’ve been dating for four years, it’s not that soon,” Sam said, giving him a bitch-face.  
  
“Bitch,” Dean mumbled.  
  
“Jerk,” Sam grinned.  
  
“Boys,” Jess scowled, while Castiel seemed to have gotten lost in their conversation.  
  
“Anyway, congrats to you both, hope there’s pie at the wedding,” Dean grinned.  
  
“Not with you there – no one else will get a chance at tasting any before you eat it all away,” Sam said, giving him another bitch-face.  
  
“Hey!” Dean protested. “I’m not such a glutton.”  
  
“Yes you are,” Sam grinned.  
  
Castiel tried to hide a smile but Dean noticed him and poked him playfully with his elbow.  
  
“So, I think we’ll be going. We have a wedding to plan after all,” Sam said, pulling an arm around Jess’ waist, before he looked over at Cas. “You’re invited too, Cas, if you want.”  
  
Castiel’s stared back at him in surprise. “Thank you, Sam,” he said.  
  
They said goodbye to Sam and Jess before they took off to go to Castiel’s apartment to spend the evening together. They took turns at whose apartment they were at, and they’d usually make dinner together. Two people eating the same meal was cheaper than two people preparing their own meals.  
  


***

  
  
They ended up watching cartoons later that night. It seemed that Dean would have to sleep over again. He’d done that a few times, usually sleeping on the couch because Castiel wasn’t comfortable sharing his bed with him yet. Which was totally fine with Dean, he didn’t blame the angel.  
  
Castiel had changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt so he’d be more comfortable on the couch. Dean liked seeing him in different clothes than just his suit and trench coat. However, the t-shirt was a little too big, covering most of his form and figure. Dean figured Cas was just more comfortable that way, not showing too much of his form.  
  
While they were watching some cartoon the door was being unlocked and someone stepped in. It took Dean a moment to realize it was just Gabriel with his house key.  
  
“Cassie, the landlord wants to speak with you,” the elder angel said as he entered the apartment. “Something about the bathroom, I dunno.”  
  
Castiel frowned, but moved up from the couch and into his bedroom to change his clothes. Dean glanced after him but remained sitting on the couch.  
  
Castiel reemerged from the bedroom soon after. “I will, um, be right back, Dean,” he said, moving over to the door.  
  
“Sure, take your time,” Dean said from the couch and stretched his limbs.  
  
Castiel disappeared out the door and Gabriel walked over, sitting down on the chair beside from the couch. Dean glanced at him and noticed the brown-winged angel was staring at him. “What?” he asked, annoyed.  
  
“You and bro have been making out, haven’t you?” Gabriel asked, still staring intensely at him.  
  
“So?” Dean said, trying to sound casual.  
  
“So, I wasn’t expecting that to ever happen,” Gabriel said, leaning back in the chair, staring at the ceiling. His wings had taken on their intangible form, going right through the chair, and it creeped Dean out a little. The elder angel must have more stamina than Castiel, who almost never did this.  
  
“In fact, I thought my little bro would never accept someone into his life. Not after all the crap that happened,” Gabriel muttered. He glanced over at Dean and said, “You really are something, Dean. I’ve never seen my brother as happy as he’s been lately. You better fucking not screw this up.”  
  
“I’m not intending to,” Dean assured him, taken a little aback by the angel’s words. “He… means a lot to me,” he said, staring into his lap, awkwardly.  
  
Gabriel smiled. “Good, then I trust you not to hurt him. You know what happens if you do.”  
  
Dean winced as he remembered the threat Gabriel had given him the first time he came there.  
  
“How far how you… taken it?” Gabriel suddenly asked, turning to stare at him, suspiciously.  
  
“We haven’t gone to the last step, if that’s what you fear,” Dean assured him. He had the feeling the brown-winged angel didn’t like him much. And he couldn’t blame him – he was Cas’ older brother, and he was being very protective of him. Especially given Castiel’s past.  
  
“I didn’t think so. Castiel’s history with sex isn’t exactly positive,” Gabriel said, bitterly.  
  
Dean nodded and looked into his lap. Then he looked up at Gabriel and asked, “Where were you, while Cas was… you know. Were you a slave also?”  
  
Gabriel seemed to be taken a little aback by that question, but he soon collected himself again. He sighed and leaned forwards; elbows resting on his knees and he stared at the floor. “No. I was sent to one those ‘institutions’, as they called them,” he explained. “You know, where they test and probe you, and then otherwise just leave you in a cell to rot. Real nasty,” he said, lips curling into a smile that wasn’t real.  
  
When Dean waited for him to continue, he sighed and went on.  
  
“Castiel and I were separated when we were small, after our parents died. Cas was no more than ten years old when he was sold to that _bastard_ ,” he spat the word. “He was there until he was nineteen. He wasn’t the same after that, and neither was I, but with Cas it was worse. He didn’t trust anyone anymore, didn’t want anyone to touch him. He had horrible nightmares and was basically just one big mess. Even his feathers started falling out.”  
  
Dean winced.  
  
“He stayed with me after he was freed. But when I could no longer provide for him, he joined the angel forces – those who fight the Creatures and bring peace to the world. There wasn’t much else he could do if he wanted to make a living,” Gabriel shrugged. “I feared the worst when his boss had him transferred to your department,” he said, giving Dean a weak smile.  
  
“You feared he’d get worse,” Dean said. It wasn’t a question.  
  
“Yeah…” Gabriel confirmed. “He was finally getting better and they were sending him right back to the beings that made him worse in the first place. I hadn’t expected him to actually get _even better_ from it. I guess I have you to thank for that.”  
  
“Well, I didn’t treat him nicely at the beginning, so…” Dean rubbed the back of his neck in guilt.  
  
Gabriel laughed. “And he didn’t treat you well, either, did he? My baby brother can be a real ass sometimes,” he said, fondly.  
  
Dean chuckled.  
  
The apartment door opened and Castiel walked back in. The closed and locked the door, sighing.  
  
“What’s up, bro?” Gabriel asked as his brother walked over to them and sat down on the edge of the couch next to Dean; his wings spread awkwardly over the couch and over the edge to the floor.  
  
“The landlord said that the others in the building have reported problems with the plumbing in the sink in the bathroom. They decided to replace all the pipes in the building sometime next month.”  
  
“Ow, means you can’t use it for a week, that sucks,” Gabriel winced.  
  
“You can stay at my place then,” Dean offered. “I’ll just sleep on the couch.”  
  
“Dean, I couldn’t—”  
  
“Yes you can, Cas, and you will, otherwise I’ll drag your ass there myself,” Dean said, grinning.  
  
Castiel’s stared at him in surprise before his lips curled into a small smile. “Thank you, Dean. I’m very grateful.”  
  
“No problem.”  
  
“Aww, you’re like husband and wife already. Isn’t that cute,” Gabriel said, smiling mockingly.  
  
“Shut up, Gabriel,” Dean scowled, while Castiel glared at his brother.  
  
Gabriel laughed and stood up from the chair. “Well, I’ll be going now. Just came by to see how you were doing, Cassie,” he said, smiling fondly at the younger angel. His love for Castiel was clearly visible in his eyes, and Dean found himself smiling. It was good that his angel had a supporting brother who cared for him so much.  
  
“Thank you, Gabriel,” Castiel smiled before standing up and leading his brother to the door.  
  
After Gabriel left, they went back to watching TV and then went to bed. Dean took the couch, as usual, and leaned in to kiss Cas goodnight. The angel accepted the kiss and kissed him back, and Dean grinned.  
  
The improvements were good, though the angel still had a long way to go. He still seemed slightly unsure with physical contact, though not as much as before.  
  


***

  
  
The next day, Dean was sitting alone in the office after they had returned from a case. Castiel’s wings had gotten blood all over them, so he was using the department’s shower to clean his feathers before the blood got stuck too much. The shower was in a remote place in the building, no one ever really used it, and the doors could be locked so it was safe for him to shower there. Still, Dean had insisted that the angel took his phone with him – just in case anything should happen.  
  
Now Dean was sitting in his office chair, going over the last few things of the case.  
  
He yawned, wishing Cas would be finished soon so they could go home.  
  
He thought back to yesterday and his conversation with Gabriel. It relieved him that the elder angel hadn’t been enslaved as well, but he knew that he’d still seen hell where he had been. Anger filled Dean when he thought about the way humans had treated Creatures throughout history. Well, the Creatures hadn’t always been nice either, but even the nice and peaceful Creatures had been enslaved by humans. That was just wrong.  
  
Dean found himself wondering what had happened to those who had had slaves. Had they been prosecuted for the unspeakable things they’d put their slaves through, or had they gone unpunished?  
  
He thought about Bradley Hammond – Castiel’s old ‘owner’.  
  
He hated the word ‘owner’. The bastard hadn’t _owned_ Castiel in any way; he was just a bastard who had paid for him and used him for whatever he pleased.  
  
But where was he now? Had he been punished for the things he’d done to the angel? Was he even still alive? And where did he live?  
  
Cold shivers went through Dean at the thought that the bastard might actually live somewhere nearby. What if Castiel saw him somewhere again, by accident? It would totally destroy all the confidence and trust the angel had built up recently.  
  
Dean bit his lip.  
  
No, he couldn’t let that happen.  
  
Castiel could never see him again.  
  
Dean opened his computer and starting searching through the company systems.  
  
He had to find out where that Bradley-guy was and what had happened to him.  
  
It didn’t take long before the computer found the results. The case was in the department’s system. He opened it and was met with the image of the guy; an overweight guy in his late-forties, almost bald and with dark hair. He looked like an ordinary rich man, but something in his eyes creeped the shit out of Dean. They were cold as ice.  
  
“Fucking bastard,” Dean growled to himself, and started scrolling down the page to see more info.  
  
He carefully avoided personal information on Castiel as he looked through the site.  
  
It turned out that Mr. Hammond had not been prosecuted or put in jail for anything he’d done to Castiel. It had been perfectly legal to have slaves at that time, after all, so no one could put him to jail for it. He had, however, been forbidden to live in the same state as Castiel did, and was not allowed to approach the angel in any way without his consent.  
  
Anger rose inside Dean and he grit his teeth.  
  
The guy was living in the state of Washington. That was far away, but not _far enough._  
  
Dean growled and hit the screen, hard. He didn’t care about the pain in his hand or that the screen had almost been thrown over the edge of the table. He was just _angry._ He cursed and stalked out the room in anger; needing to somewhere else to cool off for a while.  
  
Dean returned twenty minutes later, after listening to the cars driving by and enjoying the soft breeze against his skin. He brushed off Jo, who had been concerned as he left in such a hurry. He wasn’t in the mood for talking to her now.  
  
When he opened the door to his office, he saw that Castiel had returned from his shower.  
  
And he was looking in horror at Dean’s PC screen.  
  
Shit, he hadn’t exited the site, had he?  
  
Dean froze in horror and stared at the angel, who stood frozen and shocked in front of the screen.  
  
“Cas, it’s not what you think—”  
  
Dean didn’t manage to finish his sentence before Castiel let out a sound close to a sob and stormed past Dean and out of the building.  
  
Dean stood frozen for a moment, totally mortified, before he ran after him.  
  
“Dean, what’s going on?” Jo asked, worried, as he ran past the cubicles and after his angel. He didn’t answer her; he only had Cas on his mind.  
  
How could he have been so stupid to let him see that?  
  
 _‘Stupid!’_ Dean cursed at himself, and ran out the building, hoping to catch up to Castiel soon.


	11. Chapter 11

Dean had lost sight of Castiel. He was outside the building now, scanning the area for the angel, but couldn’t see him anywhere.  
  
Damnit.  
  
He went to the only place he could think of – the park. Castiel had always seemed to like the place, despite of the nosy children, so that was where Dean went.  
  
When he arrived at the park, he was panting so hard from running. There weren’t that many people there, but Dean couldn’t find Castiel as he looked around. Until he suddenly spotted a lonely figure on a bench further into the park. A figure in a trench coat and white wings.  
  
Dean ran over to him and stopped when he reached him.  
  
Castiel was staring into his lap, hands folded in it. The bench had nothing to lean back against, so there was plenty of space for his wings, which were draped across the bench and over the edge behind it. He didn’t look up as Dean came over, but Dean knew the angel was aware that he was there.  
  
Dean sat down next to him, slowly, staring at his face the whole time.  
  
“Cas, I’m sorry. It isn’t what you think it was. I was just trying to find out what happened to that guy and where he was – I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t come anywhere near you again,” Dean said, pleading him to understand. “I swear I wasn’t looking up information about you or what happened to you; I wouldn’t do that behind your back. If I had to know about, it should come from your mouth and not from some database.”  
  
“I know that is not why you were looking at that site, Dean,” Castiel finally spoke. He didn’t lift his head, he just kept staring into his lap. “It’s just… when I saw his picture, I- I couldn’t…” he trailed off, and Dean could hear that he was close to tears.  
  
Castiel curled in on himself, shivering.  
  
“Cas…” Dean sighed. “I’m sorry. Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”  
  
“I know,” Castiel said, voice low and broken.  
  
Dean looked at him for a moment before he carefully pulled the angel against him. Castiel sighed and rested his head on Dean’s shoulder, while he rubbed circles into Castiel’s right shoulder, comforting him. He pressed a kiss to Cas’ head, and the angel purred a little before leaning closer to him.  
  
A few tears streamed down Castiel’s cheek, and Dean used his other hand to brush them away.  
  
“I just wanted to make sure the bastard was far away, that’s all,” Dean said, desperate for the angel to understand.  
  
“I understand, Dean. I’m not mad,” Castiel replied.  
  
Dean nodded; holding him tighter. He was surprised Cas had believed him just like that, but to Dean it meant that the angel trusted him – he _trusted_ that Dean wouldn’t betray his trust.  
  
Dean had no words for how it made him feel. Instead he simply hugged the angel closer and comforted him.  


 

***

  
Castiel had been a little more silent than usual after the incident, but Dean didn’t blame him. He couldn’t imagine what it had been like for Cas to see the photo of the man who had abused him for so many years.  
  
But after a few days of kisses on the cheeks and Dean holding him protectively in his warm arms, Castiel was starting to do better again. Soon, he was acting like nothing had happened.  
  
Dean was very relieved about that. He had been scared out of his mind when Cas had stormed out of the office and disappeared. He hadn’t known until then just how much he feared losing Cas, or feared hurting him. But the angel had forgiven him and Dean swore he wouldn’t screw up like that again; he would never betray the angel’s trust.  
  
A week later they were assigned to a case involving a shape-shifter. It was spotted in midtown where it took the shape of random people and committed crimes, looking like them. The search led them to another bar, where the shifter had imitated some of the guests recently. The owner had called them about it because the shifter’s behavior while imitating others was ruining his business.  
  
Castiel was not happy about entering another bar and grabbed Dean’s arm when they were about to enter it. Dean glanced back at him in concern.  
  
“Cas, don’t worry, I won’t let them too close to you,” Dean promised. “Or me, for that matter,” he grinned.  
  
“I don’t know if I can go in there, Dean,” Castiel said, his grip on Dean’s arm tightening.  
  
Dean sighed and leant in to kiss him. “It’ll be fine, we’re out of here as soon as we find the son of a bitch, alright?”  
  
Castiel nodded and they entered the bar together.  
  
The bar was mainly empty, but it was still early. They found the bartender and Dean started asking him questions about the customers.  
  
“A few days ago Mr. Peterson started acting out of the ordinary – was practically hitting on every girl walking in here even though he’s happily married and has two children,” the bartender said, cleaning the counter while he was talking to Dean. “It hit me immediately that something was wrong. I mean, I know he’s had a few one-night stands whenever he and his wife had fights, but doing it in public? He never does that. His wife was furious when she found out.”  
  
“How many of your customers started acting strange?” Dean asked; leaning on the counter while talking to him. Castiel was behind him, glancing around nervously.  
  
“Around three people, I think – two guys and one girl,” the guy answered. “I have the feeling this son of bitch wants to ruin this business by scaring all the customers away.”  
  
“Okay, thanks man,” Dean said, stepping away from the counter and leading the angel into a private corner. “I think this thing will show up again soon. Seems like it’s attached to this place for some reason.”  
  
Castiel nodded in agreement, and Dean started shifting awkwardly.  
  
“Shit, I need the restroom,” Dean mumbled, practically on his toes now. “I’ll be right back, Cas, just stay here.”  
  
“Of course.”  
  
Dean disappeared into the restroom and Castiel glanced after him before something caught his attention.  
  
A woman was approaching him, eyeing him with interest. She had dark hair, slim figure, and seemed to be in her mid-twenties. Castiel tensed when she came up to him, leaning against the wall next to him; pushing her chest forwards to show off her breasts. Castiel looked away. He prayed Dean would return from the restroom soon.  
  
“You seem so out of place, angel,” she said, leaning closer. “Is it the humans that unsettle you?”  
  
Castiel’s head snapped up and he turned to look at her in surprise. That was when he saw that she wasn’t human.  
  
She was the shape-shifter.  
  
The shifter smiled when she saw that Castiel recognized her true nature.  
  
“Humans are all pathetic, aren’t they,” she said. “They only care about themselves. Think they rule the world. Pitiful.”  
  
“They aren’t all like that,” Castiel said.  
  
“What? You referring to your partner? You think he’s any better? A guy like that only wants one thing.”  
  
“Dean is not like that. Stop talking about things you don’t understand,” Castiel growled.  
  
“Oh, but I do understand. Dean is no stranger to me, sweetie,” she said, leaning so close that her face was right up in his, and he flinched away. Her head was tilted, and she smiled smugly when realization appeared in Castiel’s eyes.  
  
Dean had lain with this female, once. Probably without knowing her true nature. Castiel was suddenly reminded of how Dean used to be before; chasing women and men alike for the pleasures of the flesh, never engaging in long-term relationships. That was who Dean was.  
  
But not anymore. Those people had meant nothing to Dean on an emotional level.  
  
But Castiel did.  
  
And he trusted Dean.  
  
“Shut up,” Castiel growled at her, “you don’t know Dean the way I do.” The shifter’s eyes widened in surprise, and she stepped back a little.  
  
Dean came out of the restroom then, but stopped when he saw the angel glaring at the woman next to him.  
  
“Cas?”  
  
“She’s the shape-shifter,” Castiel simply said. Dean’s eyes widened and pulled out his silver blade from his back pocket.  
  
“You’ll regret this,” the shifter hissed at Castiel, before she ran for the door. Dean chased after her, so did Castiel.  
  
They chased her down an alley and into the streets, before she disappeared into a nearby park. They followed her, but it was hard to see anything in the darkness. Castiel could sense her nearby, and so could Dean. The park was empty so they should be able to hear every noise she made. But there was nothing.  
  
“Damnit, I know she’s here somewhere!” Dean said, looking around the dark park in frustration.  
  
There was a loud noise from the trees, and suddenly the shifter was on Dean; jumping from the tree and landing on his back, making him fall to the ground. Castiel turned around, eyes full of panic, but the shifter used a spell to knock him back. Castiel groaned as the hit the ground a few meters away, hard.  
  
Dean tried to get up, but the shifter only turned him onto his back, roughly, before she sat down on top of him.  
  
“What are you? Half witch or something?” Dean spat, and located Cas a few meters away. The angel was groaning and had trouble getting to his feet. The spell was making it hard for the angel to move, and Dean growled in frustration and anger.  
  
“Just because I’m a shifter doesn’t mean I don’t have a few tricks up my sleeve,” the shifter sneered. “And hello, _Dean,_ long time, no see.”  
  
Dean frowned at her. “Do I know you?”  
  
She threw her head back and laughed. Then she placed her hands on his chest, and sat down on his groin; starting to rub back and forth over his dick. Dean groaned at the friction and tried to push her off, but she held him down by force.  
  
“You liked it so much when I rode your cock back in the Mortheimer’s Motel, two years ago, remember?” She said, and stopped the movement. She leaned down over him, right up his face. “I was blonde back then, though,” she sneered.  
  
“God, you’re that chick who said she was from New Orleans and gave me the blowjob of the year,” Dean groaned.  
  
“I’m surprised you remember,” the shifter said. “Though, it was Boston and not New Orleans.”  
  
“Who cares?” Dean snarled and made another attempt to push her off.  
  
Castiel was lying a few meters away, and had finally managed to get to his feet. Dean glanced at him but forced himself to look at the shifter again so she wouldn’t suspect anything.  
  
“This is why humans like you are so pathetic – you fuck around, left and right, take as many partners as you can and don’t appreciate the love your true soul mate can give you. You just give yourselves to mindless fucks instead. _Pathetic,_ ” she hissed.  
  
“That’s why you’re roaming around the bars. That’s the place where people find each other to have mindless sex. And then you ‘dress’ as them, hit on random people in public and ruin their lives.” It wasn’t a question.  
  
“I just wanted to teach them a lesson,” she hissed. “Now, I’m going to teach you yours.”  
  
She pulled a knife from her pocket, but before she could use it, Castiel tackled her to the ground and the knife fell out of her hand. They tumbled a few feet before the shifter managed to overpower him and pushed him down onto his back. Castiel was weakened by her previous spell and could only try to push her off as she gathered the knife again and took an aim for his wings.  
  
Castiel’s eyes widened in fear until Dean appeared behind her. He grabbed her arm which was holding the knife, and leaned in close to her from behind.  
  
“Get the hell off of him, _bitch!_ ” Dean snarled before he plunged his silver knife into her back and out through her chest. She screamed out in pain, eyes wide in horror and blood splatter hit Dean and Castiel all over.  
  
She fell to the ground, dead.  
  
“You okay, Cas?” Dean asked as they both rose to their feet.  
  
Castiel didn’t reply, he simply stared at the ground, biting his lip. And then Dean knew Cas had heard everything the shifter had just said.  
  
Dean hesitated. “Cas? You know I don’t think of you in the way I’ve thought of so many people before, right? I’m not like that anymore; not with you, and—”  
  
Dean was cut off when Castiel grabbed the front his shirt, pulling him into a deep, possessive kiss. Dean’s eyes widened in surprise before kissing him back.  
  
When they pulled back from the kiss, Castiel’s eyes were fixed on where his hands were still grasping Dean’s shirt.  
  
“Cas, what was that?” Dean asked, blinking in shock.  
  
“I-I don’t know,” Castiel said, looking just as stunned as Dean felt. “I just… I didn’t like her sitting on you.”  
  
Dean chuckled. “Are you possessive of me, Cas?”  
  
Castiel didn’t reply, he simply looked away, avoiding Dean’s eye.  
  
“Cas, you know I wouldn’t trade you for anyone.”  
  
“Even if I can’t give you sex?” Castiel muttered.  
  
“Yes, even then I wouldn’t,” Dean sighed, and pressed his forehead against the angel’s. Castiel looked into his eyes and they their lips met in another kiss, both melting into it. The angel’s hand moved up and grasped his hair, lightly, and Dean moaned into his mouth in surprise and appreciation, because Castiel had never done that before.  
  
When they pulled apart, Dean let his gaze fall to the wings behind Castiel’s back. He chuckled, and the angel narrowed his eyes at him in question.  
  
“Your wings are muddy from where the bitch threw you to the ground, and you’re full of blood, too,” Dean said, smirking. “I think you need a shower.”  
  
“Oh.” Castiel glanced over his shoulder at his muddy wings before looking at Dean. “So do you,” he smiled when he took in all the blood that Dean was covered in.  
  
“Right,” Dean grinned. “Let’s go,” he said and guided Castiel out of the park.  


 

***

  
They went to Castiel’s place to get cleaned up. But when they entered the apartment, they noticed that Gabriel was there. The elder angel raised an eyebrow at them when they came in, covered in mud and blood.  
  
“Someone got kinky,” he said, distastefully. Castiel’s brows furrowed and Dean just scowled at him.  
  
“It’s not like that,” Dean said and moved further into the room.  
  
“I think you guys need to shower,” Gabriel said, looking between them. “Separately,” he added.  
  
Dean scowled at him, because he had the feeling the elder angel was being funny – in the mocking way.  
  
Castiel nodded and glanced at Dean, who told him that he okay with him showering first. After all, Castiel needed to get as much mud out as soon as possible before it got too stuck in his feathers.  
  
After Castiel disappeared into the bathroom, Gabriel turned to look at Dean.  
  
“Do I wanna know what happened?”  
  
“Not really,” Dean mumbled. “Just some crazy shape-shifter, that’s all.”  
  
“A shape-shifter that used a magic spell on Cassie?” Gabriel asked, raising an eyebrow. When Dean looked at him in surprise he added, “I can practically smell the spell on him. It hit him pretty good. Though, the effects are over now, thank god. Did the thing hurt him?”  
  
“She tried to but I got in the way,” Dean smirked.  
  
Gabriel laughed. “You two save each other’s asses like a girl changes underwear.”  
  
“What would you know about that?”  
  
“Oh, I know many things about girls,” Gabriel smirked and moved his eyebrows in a suggestive matter. Dean grimaced, disgusted, and the elder angel laughed once more.  
  
They sat down and talked for a while, about nothing in particular. Dean had the feeling the angel was starting to like him more, which made it easier for Dean to make a conversation with him.  
  
He was starting to stink like blood and dirt, and he wished Cas was done showering soon.  
  
Fifteen minutes later, Castiel stepped out of the shower; wings looking cleaner and still dripping water. There were no signs of mud in the feathers anymore but they were messy and stood out in all directions. He would need grooming.  
  
Dean slid into the shower and washed the blood off himself. Cas had left him some clean clothes since his own were dirty. It was just sweatpants and a t-shirt, and though they were Cas’, they fit him pretty good. Probably ‘cause the angel liked to wear clothes that were two sizes too big for him.  
  
When he exited the bathroom, he found Cas sitting on a stool with Gabriel behind him; helping him dry his messy wings.  
  
The elder angel glanced over his shoulder at Dean when he came into the room. “Ah, you’re finished,” he said. “Good, then I can let you take over.” He smirked.  
  
Castiel tensed slightly and Dean’s eyes widened in shocked surprise.  
  
Him? Take over? As in… grooming Cas’ wings?  
  
No way.  
  
He had _no_ idea how to do that – and what would Cas think of it? Wasn’t it a very private thing to do?  
  
While Dean was standing there, shocked, Castiel turned to look at his brother over his shoulder.  
  
“Gabriel, Dean is not…”  
  
“Dean’s not what?” Gabriel cut him off. “Your mate? Not yet, but he almost is – I can tell that your grace has bonded with him already, to some extent.” Castiel blushed and looked into his lap and Gabriel chuckled. “I think it’s about time I step back and let Dean have this responsibility; it would be inappropriate if I continue doing this.” He walked over to Dean and patted him on the shoulder.  
  
Dean stared back at him in surprise. “But, I have no idea how to—”  
  
“Cassie will guide you through it,” Gabriel shrugged.  
  
“But—”  
  
“Damnit, Dean! Don’t get freaked out so easily! If you wanna be with my brother, you’ll have to groom him, sooner or later. Might as well get started and learn it,” Gabriel grinned.  
  
“But I don’t know if Cas is…” Dean trailed off and glanced over at Castiel, who was staring back at him over his shoulder. His wings were hanging behind him, looking tense but dryer than before. He bit his lip, nervously, and looked away from Dean’s eyes.  
  
Gabriel followed Dean’s gaze. “I don’t think Cas minds too much as long as you keep it superficial, for now.”  
  
Castiel didn’t protest and Gabriel took his silence for agreement and moved over to the door.  
  
“I’ll be going now. Just keep it PG-13, okay?” Gabriel smirked. Dean was too distracted with his thoughts to bite out a comment at him, and Gabriel left soon after, locking the door behind him with his keys.  
  
Dean shifted, awkwardly, and Castiel still was still biting his lip silently.  
  
“Cas, if you don’t want me to, I’ll just…”  
  
“It’s okay, Dean,” Castiel said. “You can do it, just… follow my instructions and don’t touch the places I tell you not to touch.”  
  
Dean nodded and moved forward. He didn’t know why he suddenly felt so nervous. He moved over and sat down on the stool behind the angel, where Gabriel had been sitting before. Castiel spread his wings, slowly, in invitation, and tensed up a little.  
  
Dean leaned back, exhaling.  
  
He suddenly realized how intimate this was going to be. He was going to _groom_ Castiel’s wings – actually _grooming_ them – and the angel would let him.  
  
Dean leaned forwards, taking a deep breath, and slowly – _finally_ – buried his hands in the soft feathers.


	12. Chapter 12

The feathers were soft under his fingers, as usual, and the angel gasped softly when Dean moved his hands through them, slowly, to feel them. He had touched them before, but that was only when helping the angel with an injured wing.

Now, it was different. His relationship with Cas was different. Everything was different.

Dean started putting the feathers into their right place to make them look nice again. They were mostly dry, and Dean stared at them in awe as they looked so shiny white beneath his fingers. The wings and feathers were beyond beautiful – and most importantly; they were a part of Castiel. A very intimate part and he was touching them.

He hadn’t thought grooming those wings could bring this much excitement, but it did. This moment was very special – to both of them.

Castiel sat quietly as Dean studied the feathers and groomed them. His shoulders were more relaxed now, but still tense, and his breaths were deep and uncontrolled.

“Which parts should I avoid?” Dean asked, suddenly remembering what he had been told earlier.

Castiel seemed to be drawn out of his thoughts. “Um, avoid the oil glands. They’re at the very base of my wings, right where they meet my skin. My clothing should cover most of them but please, avoid touching me there, they’re very… sensitive.”

“Okay, I won’t touch them, Cas,” Dean said. Castiel nodded, thankfully. Dean looked down to see if he could spot them. He noticed something at the very base of the wings, like Cas had said, but most was covered by the shirt. He didn’t know anything about grooming and had basically no idea what oil glands were for, except to coat the feathers in oil to make them look prettier. But they seemed to be private and sensitive since Cas didn’t want him to touch them.

Dean shrugged it off and focused on grooming the wings again.

//

Castiel sat tense as Dean started to move his hands through his wings. He knew that Gabriel had been right – it was Dean’s responsibility to groom him now, and not his brother’s. When angels found a potential mate and the two of them got very close – almost mated – this potential mate would be the one doing the grooming. It would become inappropriate if a family member continued doing it. But only a bonded mate was allowed to make use of the oil glands and to touch them.

Dean’s hands were warm and gentle on his wings, and Castiel relaxed into his touch after a while. He knew Dean wouldn’t try to hurt him. He gasped when the human’s hand hit some of the most sensitive places on his wings. Small, helpless gasps escaped his mouth and he couldn’t help it. He bit his lip, feeling embarrassed.

Being groomed had never felt like this before and it kind of scared him. The feel of Dean’s hands through his wings was nothing like Gabriel’s.

Castiel felt a rush of something go through his body. It warmed him from top to toe and settled in his abdomen. He shifted, uncomfortably, as his body seemed to react to Dean’s closeness and his hands in his wings.

He gasped at the sweet feeling in his body.

Then suddenly he understood what going on.

He was starting to get aroused.

Dean was making him feel aroused.

Castiel groaned and closed his eyes as Dean’s hand caressed the sensitive wing bone. The feeling sent small waves of arousal through him and he let out a moan.

Castiel had been aroused before. His body had responded to the stimulation his old owner had given him when he had sex with him, but it was not the same. He had only been aroused with his body back then – never his mind.

Now, he felt the arousal in both his mind and body, and he shivered as the sweet feeling overwhelmed him from the inside out. It was a strange, unfamiliar feeling and it was hard to control.

He had felt a sexual attraction to Dean for a while now – ever since he had admitted his feelings, and it had grown stronger since. But he had never wanted to have sex with him before; he hadn’t been ready. But the shifter had stirred something inside of him when she had touched Dean; awakening sudden possessive feelings inside of Castiel that were hard to control. He had wanted to yank the shifter off of Dean and claim the human for himself, but the spell had held him back, and so had his hesitance.

But as the arousal spread through his body and Grace, Castiel knew he was ready. He wanted Dean so bad it almost hurt.

//

Dean felt the angel shift and tense all of sudden. “Cas, you okay?” he asked, worried.

Castiel’s eyes snapped open. He didn’t know what to do. Dean’s touch was making him aroused and it scared him. He had never felt this way before.

“Cas?” Dean prompted, worried. He shifted behind him, and leaned forward to see what was wrong with the angel when his gaze suddenly landed on the obvious bulge in the angel’s pants.

“Oh,” Dean said. That was not what he had expected to see and he was taken by surprise. Castiel whimpered; his wings leaning back against Dean’s touch.

“Cas, are you sure this is a good idea…?”

Castiel groaned. “Please, Dean, don’t stop.”

“Cas…”

The angel’s soft growl made Dean leave it be, and he slowly stroked across the feathers once more. Castiel shuddered beneath his touch; neck arching.

Shit, that was hot, Dean thought. Cas was getting aroused because of the grooming. Because of him.

Dean slowly moved a hand away from the right wing, earning a displeased grunt from Castiel, before he moved his hand around to the angel’s belly. The angel tensed up at first, but soon allowed Dean to move his hand under the shirt, stroking across his soft belly and up to his chest.

Castiel gasped and leaned back into Dean, who moved to kiss his neck. Castiel bared his throat to him and Dean nipped at it gently, causing the angel to shudder.

“Dean, Dean,” Castiel gasped.

“Cas, I’m not sure about this. Maybe this is going too fast, maybe—”

Castiel grabbed the hand that was on his stomach. “Dean, I want this, please… I want to feel you against me; to feel your touch. Please, Dean.”

“Cas, isn’t this going a little too fast? I mean, you haven’t wanted it before,” Dean pointed out.

“I have wanted it before, I just… I wasn’t ready,” Castiel said, shifting impatiently while he leaned back against Dean. “When your hands touched my wings, I… I haven’t like that before. It made me want; it made my entire being want. Please, Dean...”

“Okay,” Dean said, gasping softly. He looked around the room. “Maybe we should move somewhere else? In case Gabriel busts back in?”

Castiel looked up and his eyes went across the room. “We can go to my bedroom,” he said.

Dean froze. “You sure? I haven’t been in there before.” He had always slept on the couch when he was sleeping over, ‘cause he knew the angel was uncomfortable with the thought of sleeping next to him.

Castiel slipped away from Dean’s arms and stood up, pulling Dean to his feet before he placed a kiss on the human’s lips. Dean kissed him back, and when they pulled back from the kiss, Castiel stared at him with determined blue eyes.

“I’m sure, Dean,” he said.

Dean nodded, and the angel smiled and led him to the bedroom. It was smaller than Dean’s bedroom but the bed was a lot bigger – it had to accommodate two large wings, after all.

As soon as they stepped into the bedroom and closed the door, Castiel kissed him again, eagerly.

Dean growled and kissed him back, taking control of the kiss and feeling the angel submit to it. They hardly noticed that they were walking towards the bed. When the back of Castiel’s knees hit the bed, he yelped in surprise and dragged Dean down on the bed with him. Dean landed on top of him, and the angel groaned at the extra weight. Dean just chuckled and moved to plant small kisses on the angel’s neck.

Castiel moaned and arched his back; his wings spreading across the bed until they covered the entire surface.

Dean was careful not to crush the wings, and he held himself up on his elbows, which were placed at the angel’s sides.

He continued to kiss and suck on the angel’s neck, making Castiel writhe and gasp beneath him. When he reached his collar bone, Castiel bucked against him; making their groins touch and Dean gasped and pulled back.

Castiel stared back at him in bewilderment. Not because he was surprised by the gasp, but because of how the gasp sounded. Castiel blinked at him before his gaze fell to Dean’s groin. He reached up a hand, slowly, and brushed it over Dean’s erection; earning another beautiful gasp from his human.

“Fuck,” Dean cursed, leaning into the touch against his will. Castiel stared back at him, wide-eyed. “Cas, you don’t have to…”

Castiel ignored him and rubbed his hand over him more insistently. Dean moaned, and lowered himself down to catch the angel’s lips with his own. Castiel returned the kiss, and his hand moved up to Dean’s waistband, trying to get inside, until Dean stopped him.

“Whoa, easy,” Dean chuckled. Castiel stared up at him with a confused frown. “Tonight is about you, so let’s take it slow, okay?”

Castiel brow furrowed more. That was not what he was used to; usually it was him who was expected to do something for other, not the other way around.

Dean could see what he was thinking, and he sighed and kissed him again. His hands moved over the angel’s clothed chest, caressing him, and Castiel moaned softly. Then he leaned up, hands still on the angel’s chest, and pressed a soft kiss to the left wing.

Castiel gasped loudly, bucking against him again, as Dean continued to kiss and nip at the wing bone.

“Dean,” Castiel gasped, overwhelmed by the sudden pleasure going through his body as Dean’s mouth was doing things to his sensitive wing. “Dean, please.”

Then Dean moved his hand under the wing down to where the scar was and caressed the place tenderly.

Castiel froze. The scar something from his old life, a reminder of his old owner, and Dean was touching it. A warm feeling spread through him and he whimpered. Dean was touching that place. He wasn’t disgusted with him; he was accepting him and everything about him.

“Dean,” Castiel gasped, in awe. He bucked and cried out in pleasure as Dean’s mouth nipped at a particularly sensitive spot on his wing.

Dean chucked and pulled back to kiss Cas’ lips again. His hands moved lower, stopping at Castiel’s waistband, and he pulled away from the kiss to look in his eyes.

“Do you trust me, Cas?” Dean asked him, looking into his eyes without blinking.

Castiel’s eyes were nervous but he nodded nonetheless, and Dean slowly pulled down his sweatpants and underwear. He didn’t take off the angel’s shirt, because he didn’t want him to feel too naked. The angel tensed and Dean leaned back to look at him, taking in the beautiful body beneath him, before he finally leaned forward and licked the underside of the exposed cock.

Castiel gasped in surprise. “Dean!” His hand moved to grasp Dean’s short hair. Cas had not expected him to do that, and Dean could sense that this was the first time someone had done this to him before. So he did his best; licking the cock before taking it into his mouth as far as it would go.

Castiel almost went mad above him; writhing, thrashing and gasping.

The weight and taste of Cas was sweet in Dean’s mouth, like everything he had imagined, and he found himself humming as he continued to bob his head over the angel’s dick.

Dean moved his hand down to cup the angel’s balls; rolling them in his hands while he sucked him. Castiel cried out and Dean had to hold him down by his hip so he wouldn’t buck into his mouth too hard and make him gag. He swirled his tongue around the head, teasing, and took the rest into his mouth again.

He was surprised when Castiel suddenly pushed him back when the angel was so close to coming. Castiel pulled him up and crashed their lips together, and Dean kissed him back in surprise.

When they pulled back, Dean stared at him in confusion. “Cas?”

“I didn’t want it to end so soon,” Castiel explained.

“Cas, it wouldn’t have ended. We have all night,” Dean pointed out, feeling a little disappointed about not getting to taste all of him.

“No, I mean… I want you to be inside me, now,” Castiel said.

Dean stared at him in bewilderment. “Cas…”

They had only just started this, and them going that far so soon… it wasn’t right. He knew what Cas had gone through before, and he wasn’t sure he could do this yet. “Cas, we don’t have to do that yet, it can wait. There are many other things we could do—”

“Please,” Castiel insisted. “I want to feel you inside of me; I want you to erase every bad memory I have, I want you to replace all of it with yourself. Please, Dean.”

Den hesitated, unsure of what to do. But Castiel’s eyes told him that the angel was sure of this, that he wanted this, and so Dean gave in and leaned down to claim his lips again. Castiel mewled into his mouth Dean looked around before pulling away.

“You don’t have lube, do you?” he asked.

“Lube? I don’t… use it. I don’t do such things with myself,” Castiel admitted, looking away.

“Oh,” Dean said. He wasn’t really surprised. “Well, guess spit will have to do, if that’s okay.”

Castiel glanced at him, and Dean moved his fingers up to the angel’s lips. He eyed the fingers curiously, before taking them into his mouth.

Dean groaned. This shouldn’t be as hot as it was, seeing Cas’ lips stretched around his fingers while he prepared them for Dean. He groaned as he felt his hard dick twitch impatiently in his pants.

When his fingers were wet enough, he pulled them from Castiel’s mouth. They hadn’t looked away from each other’s eyes the whole time, and Dean knew that eye contact would be important while they did this. He moved his other hand down; tucking at the angel’s pants and underwear, slowly pulling them off of him with Castiel’s help.

Then he leaned down, placed a kiss to Castiel’s lips who kissed him back, before he moved his slicked fingers over the angel’s entrance.

Castiel gasped when he felt the fingers and tensed up immediately.

“Shh, it’s okay, Cas. It’s just me,” Dean soothed, still looking into his eyes. Castiel stared back at him, nervously, before forcing himself to relax. Dean’s finger slipped in easily after that and the angel hissed softly. But Dean was slow, keeping eye contact, and didn’t do any sudden movements.

One finger became two, and two became three, and Castiel took them easily; eyes never leaving Dean’s. He did, however, tense every time a new finger was added but he quickly adjusted to it.

When Dean had stretched him good, Castiel started pushing back against his fingers, and wriggled his hips impatiently.

“Dean, I’m ready, stop teasing,” he growled.

“You sure?” Dean asked.

“Yes, Dean. Now, please,” Castiel said, growling impatiently, “I want you, now.” His fingers dug into Dean’s side where he was holding on to him, and Dean knew that was going to leave bruises later.

Dean pulled his fingers out, slowly, and started fumbling with his own pants. He pushed them off and his underwear and shirt along with them and threw them on the floor.

Castiel glanced down over his now naked body, taking in the toned chest and muscle. He seemed unable to take his eyes away from the human’s body. Dean was beautiful. He was so much different from Mr. Hammond, and Castiel felt himself aching to touch this beautiful body.

Castiel reached out a hand, moving it down Dean’s chest; feeling the muscle twitch under his touch and took in the soft sound Dean made as he touched him. His hand stopped over the hard, leaking cock, hesitating, before moving it back up Dean’s belly and chest.

Dean smiled at him, leaning down to kiss him again, and then he positioned himself at Cas’ entrance.

Castiel tensed slightly when Dean’s cock pressed at his hole, but Dean’s constant eye contact relaxed him. He made his body relax so that Dean could push into him, which he did; groaning as he slipped into the angel inch by inch, going torturously slow.

Castiel’s grip tightened on Dean’s arm and side, feeling him slip into him slowly until he was fully sheathed inside of him.

Both gasped and Castiel threw his head back on the bed, moaning.

Castiel was all tight and hot around him, and Dean waited for him to get used to the feeling of him inside. The angel glanced up at him in confusion. “Dean, why aren’t you moving?” he asked, impatiently.

“I’m waiting for you to relax, dumbass,” Dean said, fondly, and chuckled at him.

Castiel looked surprised at that. No one ever waited for him to relax before moving, so he was taken a little aback by that.

When he felt the angel’s walls relax around him, Dean pulled back to the tip before pushing back in, causing Cas to gasp and jerk beneath him.

“Fuck, Cas, you’re so tight,” Dean gasped, overwhelmed by the feeling of his angel all around him. Castiel whimpered softly and urged him to move more.

He set a gentle pace at first, not wanting to be too rough with him. The angel closed his eyes briefly, letting the feeling of Dean thrusting into him overwhelm him. Dean adjusted his hips, looking for that special spot inside. He knew when he’d found it because Cas’ eyes widened and he cried out in pleasure and surprise.

“Dean!” Castiel gasped, bucking against him, and Dean smiled, leaning down to kiss the angel’s neck. He moved one of his hands which he had been steadying himself with, and moved it into the angel’s wings.

Castiel screamed out pleasure when Dean found his wing and buried his hand in it; grasping the feathers gently and stroking through them. The angel’s inner walls clamped down around Dean every time he thrust into him, making him groan and gasp.

“Shit, Cas, I can’t… I won’t last long,” Dean groaned, feeling his climax pool in his abdomen already.

“Nuurgh, faster, Dean,” Castiel growled; hands pushing at Dean’s ass. Dean complied and thrust faster, harder; hand buried in the soft feathers as he lost himself in the angel under him.

Their eyes met, blue staring into the green as pleasure consumed them both. It wasn’t just sex – it was making love, and Castiel giving himself to Dean in a way he had never given himself before.

It was about trust.

Castiel was overwhelmed by pleasure. In mind and body. A pleasure he had never known before, a pleasure that made him feel complete.

Castiel’s body tensed up as his climax hit him – feeling unlike anything before – and he cried out Dean’s name; his body tightening up as he came in long, hot spurts between them. The sight of his angel coming, and his walls tightening around him was enough for Dean to fall over the edge. He moaned out Cas’ name and came, hard, inside of the angel, filling him up.

Castiel gasped at the feeling of Dean’s warm seed filling him. He felt his Grace react to it; wrapping around it, binding itself to it and marking him as Dean’s mate and Dean as his.

They collapsed back against the bed; Dean being careful not to crush him.

Castiel panted, trying to catch his breath, and he stared at the ceiling as he felt the bond between them close up and become complete. Dean must have felt something too, because he shifted against him, uneasily, and glanced at him with his bright green eyes.

“Cas? What was that?” he asked, sounding literary fucked-out.

“My Grace has bound itself to you. I’m your mate now,” Castiel replied, still staring at the ceiling. Dean’s head moved up from where it had been resting on his chest and stared at him. Castiel stared back, nervous about Dean’s reaction; he feared the human would not take it very well being mated to him.

“Oh,” Dean said, dumbly. “As in… mates for life?” He knew angels mated for life, but he still asked.

Castiel looked away, nodding.

Dean let the thought sink in, before he grinned, making the angel stare back at him in bewilderment.

“I kinda like that thought,” Dean said, smiling. It meant that Cas would be his forever, and no one else’s, and Dean was just fine with that.

Castiel blinked at him before smiling – one the brightest smiles Dean had seen on him. They kissed, and Castiel melted into it, humming contently at the feeling of his mate’s lips against his.

Dean pulled back from the kiss; caressing Cas’ cheek with his thumb. “I think I love you, Cas,” he said, staring into the blue eyes that widened a little. “I think I have for a long time now. I haven’t loved anyone before, not like this,” he admitted.

“I love you too, Dean,” Castiel replied, smiling.

Dean smiled back, kissing him again, possessively, and felt Cas mewl into his mouth.

They adjusted themselves; Dean rolling over on his back with Cas pressing up against him, head on Dean’s chest and an arm over his waist. His left wing wrapped around them protectively while the right wing was draped over the bed behind them.

They fell asleep like that, feeling content in the other’s warmth.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for Cas telling Dean about his abusive past. May be disturbing to some. You may skip that part if you like.

The next morning, Castiel woke as he felt gentle fingers move through his feathers. He sighed, leaning into the warm, comforting body next to his own. His head was still resting on Dean’s chest and so was his arm, while his left leg was entwined with Dean’s and his wing draped over them like a blanket.  
  
Castiel found himself purring as the hand kept petting his wings; becoming more insistent and seeking out the most sensitive places. It moved down to the base of his wing, and the angel tensed a little, since it was close to the oil glands. But Dean avoided the place and instead starting petting the sensitive area where wing bone met skin.  
  
Castiel gasped, bucking involuntarily; burying his face in Dean’s neck. Dean chuckled and moved his hand through the feathers again, feeling their softness before returning to that sensitive place.  
  
His finger brushed the oil gland by accident and Castiel’s eyes snapped open. “Dean!” he gasped; clawing at the human and jerked hard.  
  
“Shit, I’m sorry, I couldn’t see where I was touching, Cas,” Dean apologized, afraid he’d somehow offended or hurt Castiel.  
  
Castiel calmed down, panting hard. “No, it’s okay, Dean. You can touch me there, now, I’m your mate. But... please wait a little longer before touching, they’re very sensitive and… I’m not ready yet,” he muttered against Dean’s chest; blushing.  
  
“Oh, okay” Dean said, blinking. The thought of him being allowed to touch that secret – and apparently very sensitive place – made a sudden, possessive feeling wake inside of him.  
  
Cas relaxed against him, closing his eyes.  
  
“Um, Cas?”  
  
“Mhm?”  
  
“How does that ‘mating’ thing work? I mean… how did it happen? Just from having sex?” Dean asked, curiously.  
  
Castiel tensed against him. “Yes, and no… It only happens when an angel feels safe and content around the other person – when their Grace binds itself to their partner. The rest happens during sex, when the claim is made,” he blushed hard.  
  
“Ah, so you bound yourself to me?” Dean chuckled.  
  
Castiel lifted his head to look at him. “Yes, I did.”  
  
Dean stared back at him for a moment before leaning in to claim the angel’s lips again. Castiel kissed him back, humming, and Dean loved how he was much more responsive to him now. He growled low in his throat; possessive hand moving up to grasp the angel’s hair.  
  
Castiel shifted, trying to get closer, and his thigh touched something hard. His eyes opened and he looked down, noticing that it was Dean’s erection he had felt. He glanced up at the human, who was looking back at him; biting his lip.  
  
“Sorry, Cas,” Dean muttered.  
  
“It’s okay, Dean,” Castiel said, smiling. He glanced at the erection, hesitantly, before moving off of Dean; wings spreading behind him and slowly moved down Dean’s body to his cock.  
  
“Whoa, Cas, you don’t have to do that,” Dean said, realizing his intention.  
  
“No, but I want to. See it as a gift and not obligation,” Castiel said. Dean still looked skeptic, but as soon as the angel’s pink tongue starting licking at him, he forgot all about protesting and threw his head back in a long groan. The angel started out hesitantly but grew more confident as uncontrolled sounds escaped Dean’s mouth.  
  
Castiel knew exactly what to do, and it kind of saddened Dean. But he pushed the thought away and focused on the angel’s mouth enveloping his cock; sucking and licking and swirling his tongue around the head in a way that made Dean moan embarrassingly loud. Cas was holding his hips down with a strong hand, and his blue eyes kept staring up at Dean – like he didn’t want to forget whom he was doing this for.  
  
Castiel was surprised at how soon he was willing to do this for Dean. But their recent mating made his Grace cry out for Dean – to taste him, to get to know him and bond further with him. Plus, he wanted to see what it would feel like doing this to his mate. Dean tasted good in his mouth, unlike anything he had tasted before and he liked the weight of him against his tongue. For the first time, Castiel found himself _enjoying_ doing this, and he moaned involuntarily.  
  
Dean was writhing under his touch, and his pleasured expression pleased Castiel, who started sucking him faster as he felt his human coming closer to the edge.  
  
“Cas! Fuck, I’m gonna…” Dean groaned, body tensing up as he came down the angel’s throat. He hadn’t been able to last long with the way the angel was pleasuring him, and Cas simply swallowed down his come when he came, pulling off and licking the rest off his lips.  
  
Dean stared at him, wide-eyed, as Cas licked his lips curiously, tasting his come. He growled and pulled the angel up for a kiss with him straddling Dean’s hips. He could taste himself in the angel’s mouth, and it made his head spin. Dean’s hand moved up to one of the wings, causing Castiel to moan into his mouth as he buried his hand in the feathers.  
  
“Dean,” Castiel moaned, drawing back from the kiss. He shuddered at the feeling of gentle hands caressing his feathers.  
  
Dean’s hand slowly moved down his chest, which was still covered by the t-shirt which he hadn’t taken off the angel last night. He stopped over the angel’s groin; staring up at him to ask for permission to move further. Castiel stared back into the green eyes, biting his lip nervously and nodded, giving him permission to move further down. Warm fingers wrapped around his erection and the angel bucked into them, moaning.  
  
“Dean, Dean,” Castiel gasped, closing his eyes in pleasure. He wasn’t used to being touched there.  
  
Dean smiled smugly under him, starting to pump his hand faster over the angel’s cock; eyes not leaving his face. The sensations of Dean touching his wings and cock were too much for Cas, and he came with a shout of Dean’s name.  
  
Dean helped him through the orgasm, and the angel collapsed on his chest afterwards; wings spread out on either side of them. Dean cleaned them up and ran his hands through the angel’s hair as they tried to catch their breaths again, and Cas practically purred against him.  
  
There was a comfortable silence between them, both of them feeling sated and exhausted, and leaned into the other’s warmth.  
  
The silence was broken when Castiel spoke. “I was only ten years old when I was sold to Bradley Hammond,” he said, quietly.  
  
Dean was pulled out of his thoughts and glanced down at the angel, who was still resting on his chest. Castiel looked away, as if in shame, and Dean’s hand tensed where it was resting on the angel’s neck.  
  
“Cas, you don’t have to tell me about this now,” Dean said, softly.  
  
“But I want to talk about it,” Castiel said, still not looking at him. “I haven’t talked to anyone about it, except the people at the shelter who rescued me, and Gabriel. It’s… I want you to know.” He looked at Dean; his blue eyes sad and nervous, and Dean took pity on him.  
  
“Okay,” Dean said, and the angel nodded, moving himself off of Dean’s chest to lie down next to him; both turning to their sides, facing each other, and Castiel pressed himself close to Dean’s chest.  
  
Dean wrapped his arms around him protectively; playing with some of the soft feathers to soothe him and waited for him to continue.  
  
Castiel snuggled closer to Dean and took a deep breath before continuing. “After Anna was sold and our parents were killed, Gabriel and I were sent to an institution for Creatures. We spent years there, mostly separated, but sometimes we saw each other. It was a horrible place… I never liked it there. They kept me for six years until I was put out for sale.” He paused, taking a deep breath, and Dean continued soothing him, encouraging him to go on.  
  
“Bradley Hammond bought me after one week. He brought me to his house and gave me my own room, though it wasn’t a cozy one – it was dark, the bed was used and uncomfortable, and there were no windows, no furniture except the bed. Already after the first night, he started to rape me,” Castiel’s voice broke but he continued. “He only prepared me before entering me when I still too small to take him. Later he didn’t do that anymore, because there was no reason for him to do it – it was about his own pleasure, never mine. And it hurt so bad I couldn’t do anything but cry.” He buried his face under Dean’s chin; tears threatening to come.  
  
“That fucking _bastard,_ I’ll _kill_ him,” Dean growled; tightening his grip around the angel protectively.  
  
“Dean,” Castiel said, looking up at him. Dean stared back. “Let me finish, and be quiet.”  
  
“Okay. I’m sorry, Cas,” Dean said, sighing, and rubbed the angel’s shoulder again. He wasn’t sure if he could listen to this. He had never felt so much anger in him before, and it was hard trying to hold back his emotions. Knowing what Bradley had done to Castiel… it was indescribable.  
  
Castiel continued. “While he was at work, I was ordered to clean his house. If I hadn’t cleaned it properly – if there was even one unclean spot – he’d drag me to my room and beat me. Same if the food I made wasn’t good enough for him. So I did my best to please him, just to avoid the violence and the torture, because with my Grace suppressed I could not heal unless he allowed me to. But sometimes he’d hit me even if I hadn’t done anything wrong,” his voice broke again, but he paused before carrying on.  
  
“The scar on my left wing… he gave me that one day he came home from work; drunk and angry, and took his emotions out on me. He tortured me with an angel-knife; he tore my wings with it. When the medic – who always came by twice a month to assess my health – came, he couldn’t do anything to make the wound heal properly, so it left this ugly scar that I have now.” He raised his left wing slightly, as a gesture.  
  
Dean rubbed circles with his thumb over Cas’ shoulder and leaned down to press a soft kiss to the angel’s forehead; closing his eyes at the horrible images flashing through his mind and he felt tears threatening to come.  
  
Castiel leaned into him and continued. “Sometimes, Mr. Hammond would invite his friends or neighbours over to ‘play’ with me. The worst thing was that they were all laughing while they did it. They laughed while they raped and hurt me.” Tears started streaming down Castiel’s face and he sobbed.  
  
“Cas... Fuck, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Dean said; feeling tears appear in his own eyes but he blinked them away, and hugged the angel close to him.  
  
Castiel took a deep breath; willing the tears away. “I was in that hell for nine years. In the end, I could hardly remember the good in this world. The day I was rescued – when slavery had become banned and the slaves were freed – I did not know what to do with myself anymore. The memory of the people coming there to rescue me is still so surreal in my mind,” he said, closing his eyes at the memory, and took another breath. “Gabriel took care of me after that. I don’t know what I would have done without him.”  
  
“Your brother really cares for you,” Dean smiled.  
  
Castiel smiled as well, weakly. “Yes, he does.” He hesitated and said, “Afterwards, I avoided humans at all costs. I became afraid of them, and swore I wouldn’t let them hurt me again. I don’t want to go through that hell ever again, Dean.” He buried his face in Dean’s neck and shuddered.  
  
Dean kissed him on the forehead, tenderly. “I’m sorry about what happened, Cas. That bastard should rot in hell for what he did,” he growled. “But you know I’d never do any of that to you – _never._ I love you, Cas, I wouldn’t hurt you, not ever.”  
  
Castiel smiled against him. “I know. Thank you, Dean.” He snuggled closer to him; feeling Dean hesitate slightly at the girly behavior, and purred when the human finally allowed it and snuggled back.  
  
Dean moved his hands through the feathers to soothe the angel. The thought of Bradley – or anyone, for that matter – having abused those beautiful wings filled him with anger and disgust.  
  
No one would ever lay their hands on these wings again, he swore, except for Dean.  
  
Castiel purred again, closing his eyes. Though the moment was very girly, Dean didn’t mind it. Castiel felt safe and content and that was what mattered.  
  
Dean was glad the angel had told him his story. The story had been hard to listen to, but he was glad that Castiel trusted him with it – to open up to him like that. He knew it had been difficult for the angel to tell him about it.  
  
The lay for a while; Cas finally calming down from the effects of telling his story. Suddenly, the door to the apartment was unlocked and opened.  
  
Castiel’s head snapped up from under Dean’s chin; listening. The familiar sound of the footsteps and a curse muttered when the person walked into something made him relax again.  
  
“It’s Gabriel,” he said.  
  
“Oh,” Dean replied, feeling relieved that it wasn’t some burglar.  
  
“Cassie, you home?” Gabriel yelled from the other room, and Dean suddenly feared he’d just burst into the bedroom. “Don’t make me go in there and go blind, guys!” the elder angel called from behind the door and gave it a hard knock.  
  
“We’re coming, Gabriel,” Castiel replied, annoyed.  
  
“We should probably get dressed,” Dean grinned at him. Castiel blushed and nodded.  
  
They quickly dressed themselves; wearing the sweatpants and t-shirts from last night, before they exited the bedroom and walked into the living room.  
  
Gabriel stood with his arms crossed over his chest, raising an eyebrow at them when they stepped out; both blushing and feeling awkward when the elder angel eyed them knowingly. Dean felt like a teenager that had been caught in bed with his first boyfriend and was now awaiting punishment from the parents.  
  
Gabriel glanced between them; eyes lingering somewhere on Castiel’s chest where the younger angel’s Grace was hidden. His expression darkened.  
  
“Seriously, when I tell you to groom my brother, I don’t mean ‘groom’ as in a bride’s groom, Dean! You have mated with him!” Gabriel exclaimed, accusingly, and glared at Dean.  
  
Both blushed heavily at that.  
  
“Well, it kind of just happened!” Dean protested.  
  
“It was my fault,” Castiel muttered, causing Gabriel to look at him in surprise.  
  
“ _You_ initiated it?” Gabriel said, shocked. Castiel nodded and the elder angel blinked, stunned. “Wow. You really are something, Dean,” he said, looking at the human. He glanced over at his brother again, who was looking very embarrassed and awkward.  
  
Gabriel took in his brother’s scent and his nose wrinkled. “Damn, I didn’t know a human’s mating mark could have such a heavy smell.”  
  
“Mating mark?” Dean asked, confused.  
  
“Ya know,” Gabriel said, shifting awkwardly and grimaced, “when you became mated with Castiel, your… seed marked him as yours. And that seed leaves behind a scent on the marked angel – kind of to scare away competitors. And yours is kinda… strong,” he explained, grimacing again but smirked when Dean’s eyes widened and his cheeks flushed.  
  
“God, I did _not_ need to know that!” Dean exclaimed, horrified. Castiel shifted awkwardly next to him; staring at the ground to hide his blush.  
  
Gabriel laughed. “Well, it’s natural, so suck it up.” He glanced at his brother. “And you, Cassie, really need to mark him back with your oil soon, if you don’t want him taken.”  
  
Castiel scowled at his brother, who made his way into the kitchen to grab a snack.  
  
Dean stared at Castiel in question. “’Mark me with your oil’? Is that another kinky part of angel mating?” he chuckled.  
  
Castiel stared at the ground, shifting awkwardly. “Yes… When we take a mate, we mark the mate with our wing oil. It usually happens during grooming. I know you humans don’t mark each other, but to angels it’s very common and very… intimate,” Castiel said, thinking about the word. “Or so I’ve heard. I haven’t taken a mate before, and it usually only happens once in an angel’s life.” He glanced at the floor, feeling too awkward to look at Dean right now.  
  
“You angels are very strange,” Dean said, making Cas wince a little. “But I kinda like it,” he added, grinning. Castiel looked up at him in surprise. “I like the thought of belonging to you, and you to me.”  
  
Castiel smiled and Dean pulled him into a passionate kiss; hands grabbing the angel’s hip and neck possessively, and the angel gasped against him.  
  
In fact, it did scare Dean a little being bound to someone for the rest of his life, and being _marked_ as someone else’s, but this was _Cas._ He had never felt about anyone this way before, and having Cas in his life forever seemed like heaven to Dean.  
  
Yes, he could definitely live with being tied to the angel forever.  
  
Gabriel stepped out of the kitchen and stopped, staring at them in horror. “Guys, spare me! Jesus,” he said, holding a hand in front of his eyes to block out the sight.  
  
Dean pulled away from Cas’ lips and glared at the elder angel. “If you don’t like the sight then don’t look.”  
  
“I won’t!” Gabriel said, wincing, moving over to the door. “Somehow, I liked it better back when the two of you still hated each other – ‘cause I was not at risk of going blind back then! But then again, I’m happy not to see my bro so miserable anymore,” he said, giving Castiel a quick, warm smile.  
  
Castiel looked away, cheeks reddening a little, and Dean chuckled and pulled him closer.  
  
“I’ll let you guys get back to… whatever it was you were doing,” Gabriel said, grimacing a little, and disappeared out the door.  
  
When Gabriel left the apartment Dean glanced down at Castiel who was staring at Dean’s clothed chest; hands playing with the hem of the shirt quietly.  
  
“So I was not the only one coming home and feeling miserable back then, huh?” Dean said, moving his hand up to pet through the angel’s feathers.  
  
“I was – as I’ve said before – upset about getting transferred and forced to work with humans. And I felt bad… for treating you so badly. Even though I hated you, I knew it wasn’t your fault I had been transferred there,” Castiel said.  
  
“Don’t worry about it, Cas, I forgive you,” Dean smiled. Castiel nodded, leaning into Dean’s hand. “I’m glad you got transferred, though, otherwise we’d never have met.”  
  
Castiel smiled. “True.” He leaned into Dean’s chest and the human wrapped his arms around him and let his hand stroke down the length of the left wing, making Cas shudder against him.  
  
“Dean?”  
  
“Mhm?”  
  
“Promise me that you won’t try to track down Bradley Hammond – because I know you’ve been thinking of it,” Castiel said, pulling away from Dean to stare at him firmly. “I can’t lose you if they arrest you for it. So please… promise me?”  
  
Dean was surprised by the request, but he knew Cas was right. Bradley Hammond was not worth it losing Cas over if the cops arrested him after he was done with the bastard. Though he wanted so badly to give the man what he deserved and had not gotten, – he wanted to fucking _beat_ him into the next dimension – he knew he couldn’t risk his angel’s happiness for it. They were going to throw him in jail for a long time if he did that, and it would break the angel completely.  
  
Castiel deserved better.  
  
So he smiled, pressing the angel closer to himself. “I promise, Cas,” Dean said, kissing the angel’s forehead. “I won’t ever leave you. Not ever.”  
  
Castiel closed his eyes and relaxed. He knew Dean wouldn’t leave him. They would always be together, and Castiel was happy he had finally found a person he knew he could trust with all his being. So he relaxed; leaning into Dean’s touch and closed his eyes, feelings his mate’s warmth and love around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a kink for marking/claiming, so I decided to add that into the way angels take mates ;) I hoped you liked it! Writing about Castiel’s past was really hard, and I didn’t want it to be too emotional with Dean crying his eyes out etc., so I hoped it turned out okay the way it is now.


	14. Chapter 14

~*~*~ 3 months later… ~*~*~  
  
Sam and Jess held their wedding a few months later.   
  
Castiel had been a little reluctant to go because he knew the wedding would be filled with humans, and that they’d likely stare at him for being there. But Dean had persuaded him, and promised he wouldn’t let any of them hurt Cas. So, he agreed and went there along with his mate.  
  
The wedding took place in Jess’ hometown a few miles away. It was a beautiful day and the big garden was filled with tables with delicious food, and a big tent in which all the guests would have dinner.   
  
Gabriel had helped them arrange a lot of things for the wedding, since he had jobs as a janitor and as an event manager. Jess had insisted he came to the wedding as well because of the great help he had given them – also, Gabriel’s presence would help Cas feel more comfortable.  
  
When they first arrived there, people were giving them odd looks when it became clear they were together because of the way the angel clung to Dean for comfort, and how Dean wrapped a protective arm around him.  
  
Castiel was aware of the many stares and gazes on his wings, and he folded them tighter against his back and tried to ignore the looks.  
  
“Dean, Cas! I’m so glad you could come here after the church!” Sam smiled when he spotted them.  
  
“Of course we came, Sammy, I just hope you have pie,” Dean grinned and hugged his brother.  
  
“For now, we do,” Sam said, rolling his eyes and hugged him back. He stepped back and glanced at the angel, who was still standing very close to Dean. Sam smiled when he noticed how comfortable his brother was with the angel invading his personal space so much, in public. “Hey, Cas, you doing ok?”  
  
“Yes, I’m alright, thank you, Sam,” Castiel said, giving him a small smile.   
  
“Hey guys! You came,” Jess smiled as she went over to them, still dressed in her beautiful white wedding dress. “I’m so glad you came,” she added, grinning at them before pulling her newly wed husband down for a kiss.  
  
“Guys,” Dean said, grimacing. He really didn’t need to see them smooching in front of him – again.   
  
“What? It’s our wedding day, it’s allowed,” Jess protested and pouted, and Sam grinned.  
  
Jess turned her attention to Castiel, who was still standing very close to Dean. “I hope you’re enjoying it here as well, Castiel. I’m sorry for all the people,” she said, looking at him sympathetically.   
  
“It’s alright, thank you,” Castiel replied and smiled. He had grown closer to both Sam and Jess over the past few months – especially to Jess.   
  
“I’m glad,” Jess smiled. “Your brother is hitting on practically every single-girl here. Is he always like that?” she asked, glaring over at a bench where Gabriel was currently entertaining a few girls and making them laugh with his pranks and jokes.  
  
“Um, Gabriel is sort of a skirt-chaser,” Castiel said, glaring over at the spot where his brother was.  
  
Dean snorted. “You don’t say, Cas.”  
  
Gabriel caught their glares and excused himself from the girls before he made his way over to them. “Hey guys, what’s up with the glaring?”  
  
“You’re scaring away the female guests,” Jess said, crossing her arms over her chest.  
  
“No I’m not! They like me,” Gabriel said, grinning self-smugly and waved back at the girls who waited for his return.  
  
Dean and Cas grimaced, while Sam tried to hide a smile when Jess’ glare intensified.   
  
“Well, we better go say hi to the other guests, right honey?” Sam said, pulling Jess away slowly. “See you guys later,” he smiled and pulled Jess away before she could attack the brown-winged angel.  
  
They went over and talked with the other guests, and Gabriel turned his attention to Dean and Cas. “So… Feeling okay, bro? I know you don’t like crowds,” he said, looking at his younger brother.  
  
“I’m fine… but I wish they wouldn’t stare that much,” Castiel muttered, looking around at the people who kept staring at his wings like they had never seen any before. Well, maybe they hadn’t.  
  
Gabriel laughed. “Humans always stare when they see something they haven’t got,” he gestured behind him at his wings. “Just ignore them, that’s how I get by – or rather, I feel honored to have that many chicks check out _my_ wings,” he smirked.  
  
“God, spare me,” Dean groaned.  
  
“Look who’s talking! You and my bro still smell like bees and flowers from a mile away,” Gabriel grimaced. “God, Cas, how much oil do you cover him in?” he asked, looking at Castiel.  
  
Castiel blushed and Dean smirked. “Would you really like to know?” Dean asked, grinning smugly.  
  
“Dean,” Castiel said, blushing harder. Dean laughed and Gabriel grimaced even more.  
  
“I think I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone and go back to my girls – they’re awaiting me,” Gabriel smirked, before he gracefully turned to leave.  
  
“Your brother is fun, Cas,” Dean grinned.  
  
“You do not have to be so explicit, it’s embarrassing,” Castiel muttered.  
  
“What? You ashamed of me?” Dean smirked, pulling him closer until they were chest to chest, and rested his hands on the angel’s hips.  
  
“No,” Castiel said, looking him into the eye. Dean smiled and leaned down to kiss him. They barely noticed when Jess walked back over to them and cleared her throat.  
  
They pulled back from the kiss; Castiel flushing with embarrassment. Jess just smirked at them.  
  
“Hey, Cas, I was wondering if you could assist me with something for a second? I don’t think any of the men here have the strength to assist me for this,” Jess asked, smiling. “And Gabe is busy with his… females,” she added, grimacing a little as she glanced over at Gabriel, who still had five girls gathered around him.  
  
“Of course,” Castiel said. He glanced at Dean who nodded at him, smiling. He smiled back and allowed Jess to walk him towards the tent.  
  
Dean smiled as he watched his angel walk away with Jess. The two had gotten closer over the past few weeks; Castiel had started talking to her more. Probably because Jess was female, and Cas hadn’t had many bad encounters with females in his life, plus she was nice and patient with him, so the angel felt comfortable in her presence. They even hugged, sometimes. Though, their hugs would not last very long because Castiel was not comfortable hugging anyone for long because of his wings – except for Dean, of course. Only Dean was allowed to touch the sensitive wings.   
  
And Dean admitted that he felt a possessive joy at being the only one allowed to touch or stare at those beautiful wings for as long as he pleased.  
  
“So, how is he doing?” Sam asked as he suddenly appeared again next to him; gesturing at Castiel who disappeared into the tent with Jess.   
  
“Who, Cas?” Dean asked, following his gaze. “He’s… doing better. Him and Jess are getting closer,” he said, smiling. “He still has issues with strangers, but I don’t think it’ll get better than it is now.”  
  
Sam simply nodded.  
  
Dean had told Sam about Castiel’s past recently, when the angel had permitted him to do it. He hadn’t told Sam any of the details, only that he was once a slave, but that was enough info for his brother to understand – everyone knew the fates of angel slaves.  
  
Though Cas was doing a lot better, it was clear to Dean that the angel would never fully overcome his fear for humans, or ever be able to trust a stranger. He still avoided contact with humans he didn’t know, and only let very few people close to him – Sam and Jess being the only ones so far, apart from Dean himself.   
  
“You know, I still can’t forget how much you used to hate him at the beginning,” Sam said, lips curling into a smirk. “You used to say you’d give _anything_ to have another partner instead. And now, you’re heads over heels in love with him.”  
  
“Shut up, Sam, that was a long time ago,” Dean muttered, blushing a little.  
  
Sam laughed. “I still have a hard time adjusting to the fact that my ‘always-only-one-night-stands’-brother is dating an angel – a _male_ angel, _and_ with whom he snuggles and cuddles and does all the things he used to say was ‘girly’.”  
  
“Are you done making fun of me, Sammy? ‘Cause I still have to eat _all_ your pie, ya know,” Dean growled; annoyed with his little brother’s teasing.  
  
Sam just laughed and patted his shoulder before he went over to talk with some of the other guests, and Dean sighed; glancing over at the tent where Cas finally emerged, walking back over to him.  
  
Castiel hurried past the curious people’s stares and over to Dean, who welcomed him with a smile. Dean wrapped his arms around Castiel’s waist and the angel leaned into the touch.  
  
“Glad to see you and Jess are getting closer,” Dean said, smiling.  
  
“She’s… a good person,” Castiel replied, smiling back.   
  
Dean leaned down and kissed him on the forehead; ignoring the people around them, and felt Cas purr against him. He let his hand brush through some of the feathers on the underside of the wings; hidden from others’ view.  
  
Castiel shuddered against him and let out a tiny gasp. “Dean, not here,” he said, glaring at him.  
  
Dean smirked. “Sorry. Later, then?” he asked, hopeful.  
  
“Maybe,” Castiel said, lips curling into a tiny smirk.  
  
“Tease,” Dean snorted, making his angel chuckle softly and rest his head under Dean’s chin. “I’m so glad you came here, Cas. It means a lot to Sam and Jess – and to me, too. I’m not a wedding-person and I think I’d be bored out of my mind without you here,” he chuckled.  
  
Castiel smiled against him. “I know. But there are so many people here, I- I don’t like crowds,” he muttered against Dean’s shirt.  
  
“We’ll find a spot with less people, okay?”  
  
Castiel nodded.  
  
“But first…” Dean said, slowly pulling away from him to guide Castiel towards the snack tables. The angel frowned in confusion and looked up at him. “First I gotta introduce you to the wonders of pie,” he smirked.  
  
Castiel smiled. “I’d like that.”  
  
They went over and found a private spot to enjoy the various types of pie Dean had picked. Soon, the angel ignored all the people around them just by enjoying being in Dean’s presence and eating pie with him.  
  
And Dean knew he’d never hate the day he had met Cas, ever again.  
  
Because that day had brought him something irreplaceable.  
  
It had brought him love, for life.  
  
And Dean… he was okay with that.

 

 

FIN


End file.
